


A Brave New World

by misakikinomoto



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Movie Fusion, Canon-Typical Violence, Captain America AU, F/M, Flashbacks to Triggering Events, M/M, Mutual Pining, Panic Attacks, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Rape Recovery, Rape/Non-con Elements, please heed the warnings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-30
Updated: 2015-01-30
Packaged: 2018-03-09 07:45:53
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 9
Words: 26,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3241802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misakikinomoto/pseuds/misakikinomoto
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What do you do when the one thing you thought was right may not be so right after all? </p><p>That’s the problem Stiles and Derek have to face when A.L.P.H.A is compromised and they’re left fugitives from the very organization they laid their lives down for.</p><p>A.K.A The Captain America AU that needed to happen, with all the angst and sobbing Teen Wolf gives us (and possibly more).</p><p>(This work contains triggering content. Please read the warnings in the notes before proceeding)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Warning: The following work contains many triggers, a lot of them related to sexual offences such as molestation and rape. If you think this may be a trigger for you, please avoid this fic, as these triggers cannot be avoided in the text. It is too interwoven in the plot to avoid.
> 
> The non-con/rape in this fic may not be as explicit as most works on this site, but it does focus heavily on the psychological aspect of the act and as a result may or may not be extremely triggering.
> 
> One thing I want to say here is that I have tried my level best- with research, interviews and the like- to make these scenes as true to reality as possible. We see so many stories- both published and fan-written- that fail to take into account that rape is not something to be eroticised. It is an act that is so dehumanizing that it has a life-long impact on the people who unfortunately go through it. Its horrifying and should never be seen as anything else.
> 
> With this in mind, I want to thank all the people who agreed to speak to me, who encouraged me and helped me write the more difficult parts of this story.
> 
> Another thing addressed in this story is girl-on-boy rape. Its something utterly disregarded as people don’t seem to realize that boys may not want to have sex with someone. Consent is consent- your gender does not affect how important that is. If you are a guy who was forced to go through something like this, remember that consent is the key, not your gender. Rape is rape, regardless of who it happens to. 
> 
> Also, there is a brief reference to past!child sexual abuse. Its not in detail, but it is referred to and discussed in brief in relation to a particular character.
> 
> I would like to say that I have not gone through any of the horrific things mentioned, and I do not pretend to be an expert of this. I do not pretend to have any experience, and everything written here is based on interviews and research. I apologize if anything in this fic offends you because you think it is incorrect. However, since these events are influenced heavily by what I have heard and read, please take into account that it is very possible someone has gone through it.

“On your left,” said a dark haired, muscular man as he jogged past another man, who appeared to be his jogging partner. The other man rolled his eyes, panting as he tried to speed up. However, the dark haired man had already sped up as well, too far for him to catch up with. 

 

The park they were in was filled with other joggers, all making good use of the large track. The park was filled with large trees, so the sound of the children playing in the playground of the park was slightly muffled. Some of the joggers had their pets with them, taking this time to also walk their dogs.

 

The second man’s lips formed a small smile. He was in his forties, but age had treated him very well. His hair was greying, but it still had a lot more colour in it than most people his age, and the greying hair only made him look much more handsome.

 

The first man grinned as he overtook the older man again. “On your left,” he repeated, making the older man groan.

 

The dark haired, muscular man looked no older than 28, his face one that people across the nation knew very well; Captain America. Derek found the name rather embarrassing, but his boss- and unfortunately, sister- insisted he had a name, after his...transformation.

 

“Don’t you dare,” said the older man as he heard Captain “ Its Derek, please”  America catching up.

 

Derek let out a laugh that he couldn’t successfully hold back, and breathily said, “On your left!”

 

“Dammit,” said the man, groaning, and giving up. He moved quietly to the grass, collapsing as he waited for the other man to finish his lap.

 

“Hey,” said Derek with a grin. “I’m Derek.”

 

“Oh, I know who you are. I’m John. You run here often, son?” he said, passing him a bottle of water.

 

“No, this is my first time. I’m trying to figure out which places are the best for running around here.”

 

“Well, I’d suggest this place, honestly. But if its not to your liking, there’s The Hudson River Greenway. I personally like watching all the people while I run. My son, though, he likes doing what he calls the Five Bridges Run. Its really complicated, and I honestly never understood it,he just runs everywhere and crosses the bridges.”

 

Derek pulled out a small notebook and writes it all down.

 

“What’s that?” John asked curiously.

 

“I’ve taken to writing down the things people tell me to look up and do. As you probably know, I’m not really from around here. And given my….past, I’ve not had a lot of time catching up with the changes in the world.  Even if it was four years, my understanding of technology and the like is still minimalistic at best. So I like to write down stuff I should do, so that eventually I can do it,” Derek said gruffly, completely at odds with the way he had seemed when they were running.

 

John smiled.

 

“So, what do you do John?” said Derek as he put away his notebook.

 

“Oh, I work with people with PTSD. I used to be a police officer in my old town. The Sheriff, actually. I decided to have a change of scenery when my son moved here.”

 

Derek nodded, a small interested frown on his face. Around them, other New Yorkers jogged past, the generally persistent hum of the city continuing as it always did. Derek had gotten used to blocking out the unnecessary sounds, the awareness of which had increased after his transformation. 

 

He was snapped out of his reverie when he heard a loud honk.

 

“Oi, Asshole!” yelled a familiar voice, and both men turned to look at the source of the voice.

 

A sleek, black Camaro was parked near the gate, and a young man, no older than 24 or 25 was leaning against it. His pink lips were curved in a smirk, and his golden brown eyes zeroed in on the two men. Unlike the two men, he was wearing a suit that fit him perfectly, accentuating his slim yet muscular figure. His brown hair looked perfectly styled at the top of his head.

 

Derek groaned, watching the man walk towards them with a swagger.

 

“Looks like I have to go, John. It was nice meeting you,” Derek said with a sigh, and John grinned.

 

“Not an issue. We should do this again some time,” John said easily. As Derek turned towards the young man, John looked at him as well. A small smirk lit up John’s face as the boy’s expression shifted slightly before settling at smug and cocky. 

 

“What is it, Stiles? Is there a reason you’re interrupting my morning run?” said Derek, glaring at the younger man as they walked further and further away from John.

 

Stiles grinned easily. “Fury calls!”

 

Derek let out a groan.

 

“You need to stop calling my sister that, Stiles,” he said, his hand covering his face as if he could erase the embarrassment by not looking at him. Stiles shrugged easily, getting into the Camaro. “And where the hell did you get the keys to my car?”

 

Stiles grinned and raised his eyebrows at Derek. “Swiped them out of your back pocket last week when you decided to shove me into a wall again. Made a copy of my own before slipping them back.”

 

Derek let out a pained groan. “I’m not even surprised.”

 

Stiles let out a morose sigh. “Alas, I couldn’t exactly cop a feel. After all, your ass is day-um fine,” he said, winking at the older man, only to get a glare in response.

 

No more words were spoken as the two sped towards the A.L.P.H.A tower at the edge of the city.

 

Most people would have expected the tower to be located in the capital of the most powerful country in the world, but instead, the tower was located in New York. A.L.P.H.A was founded long before Derek was even born, by a group of extremely intelligent people, who realized the need to protect the world from itself. Derek’s own parents were part of this team, and when they met their demise at the hands of the H.U.N.T.E.R.S, Laura had taken over. 

 

Her first priority had been to get Derek back from where the H.U.N.T.E.R.S had been keeping him captive. Stiles had been the leading official at the time, regardless of the fact that he was only 14 years old. Stiles had been their number one agent since the moment he joined A.L.P.H.A at 12, and after years of service had earned himself the nickname “Nogitsune”. One of the things Stiles was best at was seduction- a skill he made good use of during his assassination missions.

 

However, the Stiles that had come to rescue Derek had still been a gawky kid who couldn’t charm anyone if his life depended on it. THAT Stiles had still been in his awkward stage, having had his first growth spurt yet still not being capable of filling out his body. Yet, it had been this awkward, gangly fourteen year old Stiles Stilinski who managed to break into the H.U.N.T.E.R.S headquarters and get him out of the reinforced cell that Gerard- the head of H.U.N.T.E.R.S- had locked him in.

 

It was only later that he learnt of the involvement of Chris Argent in his rescue, and even later that he learnt of Allison Argent. He had taken a very long time to warm up to the two, but now he knew he could trust them as far as A.L.P.H.A was concerned.

 

Stiles, though, was a different story. 

 

The Stiles that Derek had become close to had been the awkward, gangly one who tripped over things and he had no clue how the teen could have possibly been made the top agent at the time. 

 

But then Stiles went on a two year trip to Budapest with Allison, and came back different- dangerous, sexy and completely comfortable in his own body. 18 year old Stiles made Derek flinch back, made Derek uncomfortable, and worst of all, Derek didn’t know who this Stiles was. 

 

Occasionally, he would see the old Stiles, his best friend, in Stiles’ eyes, but it would be gone in a flash, replaced by a seductive stranger. Stiles never tried to seduce Derek, and for that Derek was grateful. But he was still incredibly uneasy around Stiles now that he knew how Stiles accomplished his missions. Stiles came back from each mission even more different to when he left, with more pain hidden behind his eyes, and Derek couldn’t help but feel like he was losing  his Stiles.

 

His Stiles never kept secrets from him. This one was a walking, talking bag of secrets, secrets that Stiles kept so close to his heart that they would never escape.

 

Derek never really liked it when people kept secrets from him. The last time that happened he was seduced and kidnapped by a woman twice his age, and locked in a cellar to be experimented on by an evil old man.

 

 

* * *

 

Derek stormed into the conference room where his sister, Laura Hale, stood waiting for them with the team that Derek led during his missions- Aiden and Ethan Smith and Kali Williams. The last member of his team- Stiles Stilinski- glided into the room behind him, an amused smirk in place as he nodded to the other three, like he knew way more than he pretended he knew. 

 

Laura, though, offered Stiles an aggravated look. 

 

“As you all may be aware, we have a bit of a situation down on the Indian Ocean. One of our….carriers,” said Laura, “has been compromised by pirates. I need you guys to go in, get the hostages out of there, and get those goddamn pirates off my ship.”

 

Derek nodded seriously, as did the rest of the team. A.L.P.H.A ships were state-of-the-art and filled with information and technology that no threat should ever get their hands on. This was a huge deal, and they needed to recover that ship as soon as possible.

 

Laura nodded and sent them on their way. They would have to use the carrier that they reserved for these circumstances- a stealth craft that could easily sneak up on the carrier without any issues. Stiles, being the nerd that he was, was absolutely in love with their craft, insisting on calling it his “baby”. 

 

Considering that Stiles had played a huge role in its making, Derek couldn’t really make himself correct the boy. 

 

Stiles insisted that they continued to upgrade the craft as they went along, so over the years, the team had seen Stiles convert their normal stealth craft into something straight out of a sci-fi novel. Stiles’ imagination was always something Derek had found both amusing and awe-inspiring, because despite the odds, Stiles always managed to make each vision a reality.

 

He shook himself out of his reverie when he realized the team was waiting for him to give them orders.

 

“So, what do we know?” he said, knowing fully well that Stiles probably knew about the situation well before Laura had informed any of them.

 

Stiles turns to the holographic monitor behind him, entering a code to activate the system, and immediately the team could see the face of every hostage held on the carrier ship. 

 

“The pirates boarded the carrier at 03:00 hours Tuesday morning. We were notified of the issue when Matt..” started Stiles, only to be interrupted by Derek.

 

“What in the world was Matt doing on that carrier to begin with?”

 

Stiles shrugged, but Derek knew that Stiles already found this odd. Matt was a 26 year old operative who was basically Deucalion's right hand man. Deucalion was A.L.P.H.A’s acting chairman, as Sheriff, the actual chairman, had been missing since Derek’s kidnapping.

 

Matt was a green eyed boy with slightly curly brown hair. His lips were always curved in a smarmy smirk that Stiles often claimed creeped him out. The reason Matt was avoided by the general A.L.P.H.A public was because Matt was what they called a Stalkerazzi. The most memorable instance was when he decided to follow Allison- or Hawk Eye, according to her file- around to see what secrets he could uncover.

 

Stiles, of course, put an end to that very quickly by dragging the boy back to Deucalion and, from what Derek heard, literally regurgitating A.L.P.H.A regulations at the chairman, and “warning” Matt about the possible implications of following any Code Red Agent around.

 

Given that Derek is one of the handful of Code Red Agents, he has to be grateful that he no longer has to worry about walking out of his shower to find Matt ready with a camera.

 

“As I was saying, Matt carries around an alarm pin that can be used to notify us of any high risk situations, as do many of the people on his security level. Thanks to this device, we were notified at 06:00 hours. The carrier has roughly 50 crew members, so we can expect there to be that many hostages. On the same note, it takes approximately 20 people to run that carrier in some semblance of efficiency, so we can expect at least that many pirates, give or take a few.”

 

“Alright then, team. Our first priority is the hostages, then the carrier itself. We need to eliminate the threat first. Now, this is how we’re going to do this…”

 

Derek allowed himself to slide into his role as the captain, and immediately felt at ease. This was something he was good at. He wasn’t good at handling Stiles, handling flirtations from the lady next door, or the girl Laura had made her secretary. He wasn’t at all good at handling Lydia Martin, the woman Laura kept at her side, her left hand to Stiles’ right. But he was good at planning, at saving people. He knew strategy and he was good at implementing it.

 

Sometimes, he thought absently to himself as their stealth craft sped towards the Indian Ocean, maybe he could convince himself that that was enough.

 

 

* * *

 

It was another two hours before the stealth craft arrived at the precise coordinates of the compromised carrier. The entire team had managed to change into their suits, and Derek into his ridiculously tight, black lycra suit (“black like his fucking tormented soul,” Stiles would say, rolling his eyes every time he saw it). Stiles glanced at Derek with a small smirk before nodding at him.

 

“I’ll see you all below. Do NOT deviate from the plan,” Derek said, glaring at Stiles whose smirk only widened.

 

“Will do, Cap,” said Stiles, strapping his parachute on.

 

Derek glowered as he made his way to the cargo deck before he jumped out. On his way down, his heightened senses could still make out the conversation on the stealthcraft.

 

“Was he even wearing a parachute?” said Kali, looking absolutely gobsmacked.

 

Stiles let out a thrilled laugh, because of COURSE Derek would do something showy without meaning to.

 

“Nope,” he replied, popping the ‘p’ just to annoy her.

 

Derek rolled his eyes. Of course Stiles would rile up the team, regardless of the fact that said team consisted of three other people who were known to not only be temperamental but rather bloodthirsty.

 

He brought his arms to his sides, closed his legs as revelled in the feeling of the wind against his body as he sped closer and closer to the ocean. As the dark, murky waters came closer, Derek quickly tucked himself into a ball, taking a deep breath a second before he hit the water. He heard the splash, muffled by the water surrounding him, and he swam to the surface.

 

His hair was stuck to his forehead but his suit- being water proof- prevented him from getting too heavy in the water. He waded carefully towards the carrier, years of practice gliding him through the water without making a single sound.

 

What he really liked about being in A.L.P.H.A was not, as Stiles frequently proclaimed very loudly, the “perks with the ladies” (Derek had not been interested in women for a very long time), but rather the perks when it came to technology.

 

Derek was absolute rubbish at using anything electronic, and Laura and Stiles constantly made fun of his inability to make popcorn in a microwave, but he couldn’t help but love how his suit allowed him to climb up the carrier’s metallic surface with ease.

 

He’d deny it if anyone ever had the balls to ask (meaning he’d deny it to Stiles, because let’s be honest here, no one else would have the balls to approach Derek and ask something like that), but it made him feel more like a superhero, more like Spiderman, than anything they did on a daily basis.

 

On these missions, Derek feet something in him come alive, like a wolf was eagerly waiting to come out and play. He loved it, loved how he can just let go and  be instead of feeling ridiculously suffocated in the corporate world of A.L.P.H.A. That was for Laura and Stiles, who could easily manage to glide through the politics of such an organization and come out on top. Derek could never do that, and was much more suited for the hands-on side of A.L.P.H.A. 

 

As he climbed stealthily up the side of the carrier, listening to the sound of two men talking on the deck, he couldn’t help but smirk.

 

3 minutes.

 

He flipped onto the deck in a fluid motion, barely registering the two men running towards him. They opened their mouths to yell, to alert the others, but they were down before a sound could be let out. Derek had collided with them and thrown them into the ocean.

 

2 minutes and 30 seconds.

 

He saw another man running towards him, metallic pipe in hand. He ducked when the man swung, and then grabbed his foot, making him fall right on his head. Derek could hear another man running at him from behind, slowly getting closer. He focused on the man’s breathing as it got closer. He quickly grabbed the pipe and swung it back, based on the approximate area he heard the man’s breathing from.

 

1 minute and 20 seconds.

 

Derek ran down the deck, flying at a group of men. He managed to kick one in the head, knocking him out. Another ran at him with a knife. Derek managed to grab the arm with the knife a split second before it reaches him, pushing the arm up before kneeing the man in the stomach. 

 

Derek’s was breathing heavy, and he loved it. He loved the adrenaline rushing through his veins. He managed to throw two more men off the ship.

 

He turned around to see the final man, but this one has a gun in his hand. Derek would bet anything that the safety isn’t on.  Shit.

 

30 seconds.

 

The man smirked, preparing to pull the trigger, but suddenly he spasmed before passing out. Stiles stood behind him, a cocky smirk in place.

 

“You looked like you needed a hand,” he said simply, putting his taser-gun back in its holster.

 

Time’s up.

 

Around him, Derek can see the other three landing, grins on their faces.

 

“Not bad, Cap, not bad at all,” said Aiden appreciatively.

 

“We’re not done yet,” said Derek, and the other nodded gravely, as Stiles simply nodded, his small smile still in place. They all headed in different directions.

 

Aiden and Ethan were in charge of attacking from behind, through the windows.

 

Kali and Derek were in charge of the frontal attack. 

 

Stiles was in charge of getting rid of the pirates running the ship in the engine room.

 

He nodded at them, and they all made their way around the ship to do their jobs. 

  
  


“Okay guys, this here is a blueprint of the ship I managed to get of the carrier,” said Stiles, opening up the picture of a large ship on the stealth ship’s panel. 

 

“How the hell did you even get that?” said Aiden, looking at Stiles with the usual mix of awe and annoyance that he reserved for Stiles.

 

Derek didn’t blame Aiden for his reaction. Stiles was a total asshole, but he sure could be a BAMF when he wanted to be. 

 

Stiles shrugged daintily. “I never reveal my sources. Anyway, this should make it so much easier of us to navigate our way through the ship. From the signal we got from Matt’s device- which is still, luckily for us, giving off a signal- the hostages are currently being kept in this area,” he said, pointing at a room near the side of the ship.

 

Derek nodded. He had his suspicions that regardless of his coveted place at Laura’s side, Stiles was his own person (an incredibly stubborn person who had a tendency to be ridiculously self-sacrificing when Derek was involved) and not even Laura could make him do anything he didn’t want to. So it was no surprise that Stiles had just decided to get blueprints of an A.L.P.H.A carrier, without any sort of clearance to begin with.

 

“Alright then, team. This is the plan,” said Derek, and they all got into planning.

 

Derek and Kali quickly made their way down to the lower levels of the ship. They didn’t have much time, and they needed to eliminate all the pirates and rescue the hostages as soon as possible, because there was no way A.L.P.H.A would ever pay anyone ransom. 

 

That wasn’t how A.L.P.H.A worked. You asked them for a ransom, you’d simply have a team sent to destroy you.

 

Derek counted the doors they passed, mentally focusing on his memory of the map Stiles had shown them. He could hear muffled voices behind the door at the end of the hallway. The metal muffled the voices enough for him to not be able to make out the conversation.

 

He glanced at Kali to confirm that this was the room that Stiles had said the hostages were in. She simply nodded, and Derek pressed his head against the door to try to focus on the voices. He could smell many, many people in the room, and a mix of fear and apprehension that was so strong he felt suffocated.

 

He could hear the heartbeats of Ethan and Aiden from the deck.

 

“Get in position,” he heard Kali say into the intercom, quietly enough to make sure no one else could hear her.

 

If he focused enough, Derek could hear Ethan and Aiden arrange their harnesses and begin to rappel down as quietly as they could. He could hear the quiet whizzing as they moved down, and below them, he could hear Stiles, steadily knocking out all the pirates who were running the ship.

 

He focused on the door in front of him. Kali had her gun out, ready to attack.

 

We’re in position, Captain. 

 

Derek nodded to Kali when he heard Ethan’s voice on the intercom.

 

On the count of three, everyone. 3…...2…...1!

 

Derek kicked the door down. He vaguely registered the men in front of him pulling out their guns, but he knew very well it was too late for them. Kali shot three of the men down, Ethan and Aiden shot down the remaining four. 

 

“Captain! The guy in charge! He’s still out there,” said Matt, moving slightly so that he was half way between being seated and squatting.

 

Derek nodded. “What does he look like?” he asked.

 

Matt’s face did something incredibly odd before saying, “Its Ennis.”

 

Derek’s face darkened as he moved from the door. Ennis had originally been part of his team before he decided he was meant for greater things and went rogue, so to speak. Kali stiffened beside him.

 

“Kali, you and the others get these guys out of here. I’m going after Ennis,” Derek said, darkly before moving towards the hatch.

 

 

* * *

 

Most people didn’t know much about Stiles Stilinski- Laura’s “pet human”, her favorite assassin and most favoured agent. Some said it was because of Stiles’ role in Derek’s rescue all those years ago, while others whispered of darker, shadier dealings that Stiles had played a role in for A.L.P.H.A’s benefit.

 

But what most people knew about Stiles was that he absolutely adored Derek Hale. There were more whispers about that, of course. Whispers about how Stiles had slit Kate’s throat in Budapest when he found out she had survived the blast they all assumed she had died in. Whispers about how Stiles was almost  human with Derek, how Derek was his weakness.

 

What most people didn’t even know was that it was all true.

 

Whispers were one thing, but everyone knew better than to believe anything said about Stiles Stilinski. If Stiles controlled the international community to the benefit of A.L.P.H.A with blood and assassinations, Lydia Martin controlled all information ever circulated. They were a formidable duo, and under the intelligent strategist that was Laura Hale, their skills were utilized to their full capacity. 

 

Regardless of his reputation as the Nogitsune, there was only one person- who wasn’t family- that Stiles treated with care, and was foolish enough to hand his heart to- Derek.

 

Even though she knew all this, Laura still tended to give Stiles missions that were not always beneficial or even connected to Derek’s mission. Stiles hated hiding stuff from Derek, but it was important. Derek was smart, but he wasn’t smart in the way that he could hack into systems. Derek was smart on the field, Stiles could destroy entire countries by tapping a few keys if he chose to.

 

Which was why Stiles was now in the Captain’s cabin. He slipped his pendrive into the machine, ignoring the small voice in the back of his mind that always seemed to like reminding him of how Derek looked at him after he did something like this- that look of hurt, dismay and betrayal that never lasted long because Derek was very good at hiding his emotions.

 

He had gotten used to ignoring that voice, because that voice would lead him to a path that might destroy every plan that he, Lydia and Laura had made to this point.

 

Stiles shook his head to stop the unnecessary thoughts, and focused on the holographic screen in front of him. This was what he was good at. He smirked to himself and typed in a 6 digit code. 

 

“Clearance?” said the computer’s voice in a monotone.

 

Stiles made a mental note to talk to Danny “Call-me-Iron-Man” Maehelani about giving computers some sort of emotional voice fluctuation.

 

“Code Red, Level Alpha, Stiles Stilinski. System Override command,” he said with a frown. The code he had entered should have automatically made the computer initiate system override, because it was Laura’s code. It was supposed to override any and all A.L.P.H.A computers.

 

Something was very, very wrong here.

 

“System Override commencing, sir.”

 

Stiles stared at the screen as the downloading bar slowly inched towards 100% completion.

 

Stiles, we got the hostages. Ennis is in charge of the pirates.

 

Stiles snapped out of his thoughts when he heard Ethan’s voice.

 

“I got it. Exactly how long do we have?”

 

Cap’s gone after Ennis. I assume they’re on the deck at the moment. I heard a loud clunk near the Captain’s cabin.

 

Stiles swore. “Got it. Thanks Ethan. Get the hostages to the helicarrier. Get Kali to take them back to HQ. I’ll finish up here. Once you and Aiden are done, get back to our plane. Derek and I will meet you there,” he said, his voice calm, but his eyes were frozen on the screen.

 

85%.

 

Stiles’ head snapped towards the door that a man- Ennis- had been thrown through.

 

“Stiles?” Derek said, his eyes widening as he sees Stiles standing in the Captain’s cabin. 

 

“I think you should be focusing on Ennis right now,” he said, pulling out his taser. Stiles prefered to use it instead of guns and blades, because unless he was on a mission he didn’t need anything more than that.

 

Ennis snorted as he got up.

 

“I see you’ve kept your whore, Hale,” Ennis said, smirking. “Maybe after I finish you off, I’ll see exactly why.”

 

Derek let out a roar that chilled Stiles to the core. That wasn’t a human roar. Derek was pissed off enough to call upon his wolf.

 

Stiles felt a pang of guilt when his traitorous mind pointed out that he was angry because of him. He always hurt Derek, even when he was trying not to, and he hated himself for it.

 

Derek head butted Ennis, making him fall to the ground again.

 

Stiles glanced at the screen, feeling relief hit him hard when he saw that he could now remove the pendrive.

 

He pulled it out, shoved it into his pocket and when Derek lifted Ennis off the ground by his neck, eyes glowing red as the wolf started to take over, Stiles slammed his taser into Ennis’ neck.

 

Ennis let out a loud scream of pain, and the sound snapped Derek out of it. Stiles didn’t look at Derek, couldn’t look at the horror that was directed at himself and the hurt that was directed towards Stiles.

 

Derek dropped Ennis like he was a sack of potatoes, his eyes staring into nothingness for a moment. Stiles finally looked at Derek.

 

“Let’s go,” he said, calmly. What he did may have hurt Derek, but he wasn’t wrong. Laura needed this intel urgently, and for a very good reason, if her worried eyes and dark circles were an indicator. 

 

Derek looked at him, his eyes painfully blank, and simply nodded.

 

Sometimes, Derek not yelling at him hurt more than when they fought.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Panic Attacks, Major Character Death

The sun had just set over New York City. From the top floor of the A.L.P.H.A headquarters, the city looked like a whole swarm of fireflies had taken residence in the concrete jungle, lighting it up and giving it the feeling of something exquisitely sophisticated and netherworld-like.

 

It was on the top floor of the building that a dark haired woman stared down at the world they were protecting, pausing on the UN building and the at the series of skyscrapers that littered the horizon, blocking the blood orange sky.

 

Her dark hair was tied into a tight bun on the back of her head, her bangs falling loose. Her bright blue eyes were focused on the horizon, but they looked tired, like she had seen many things in her life.

 

Behind her was a strawberry blonde, seated on her table, her legs crossed. Both women were wearing black pencil skirts, but the the strawberry blonde’s top was much more seductive, tight and revealing than the dark haired woman’s.

 

“You realize that Derek is going to very, very pissed once he realizes what you had Stiles do, right?” said the strawberry blonde, smirking slightly as she looked at the woman’s back.

 

“Yes, Lydia. I do know my brother, you know,” snarked the woman, finally turning to look at Lydia.

 

“Then why piss him off, Laura?” she said, looking amused and calculated at the same time.

 

Laura rolled her eyes. “Its not about pissing him off. You’ve seen that look he gets on his face when I do this. Its usually directed at Stiles, and while Stiles is much better at hiding his feelings about this entire thing, we both know that hurting Derek kills Stiles inside. Its about getting that information.”

 

Lydia nods slightly, her eyes zoning in on the horizon again. The two stayed in companionable silence until a computerized voice buzzed loudly, alerting them to the return of Derek’s team.

 

Lydia gracefully slid off the table as Laura glided into her chair.

 

“Laura!” roared Derek as he barged into the room, his eyes red. Behind him Stiles walked in with his usual seductive stroll.

 

“Laura, Lydia,” said Stiles easily, tossing Laura the pendrive.

 

She raised an eyebrow at him, and he shrugged. “The information is in there, but there’s a bit of an issue regarding your….code. Is there a reason it didn’t work and I had to use my clearance to access it?”

 

Derek was fuming next to him, but this made him look at Stiles with slight confusion.

 

Lydia’s features remained unchanged, but there was a quick second where she glanced at Laura, like she was trying to take a cue from her.

 

Laura sighed and let her head rest in her hands. “We’ll talk about this later, Stiles. Now, why does my dear brother look like he’s seconds from wolfing out?” she said, a teasing grin forming on her face.

 

Stiles’ eyes narrowed as he honed in on her quick shift in topics, but Lydia looked at him subtly, a warning in her eyes.

 

“Would you mind telling me,” Derek growled, “WHY Stiles was yet again off doing his own thing?!”

 

Laura shrugged gracefully. “I simply needed him to do something for me.”

 

“His actions could have jeopardized the hostages, Laura!”

 

“Look, Derek. I get you love helping people, and you are basically the embodiment of a Hero Complex, but there’s this thing called compartmentalization. You should really work on that. You had a mission, Stiles was merely an accessory to that mission. He can compartmentalize beautifully,” Laura said, leaning back into her chair.

 

Stiles glanced at Derek, flinching slightly at the rage that was evident on his face.

 

“Derek, you need to calm down,” said Stiles, reaching out for a second.

 

“I’m fine, fuck off. I’ll leave you to suck up to my sister some more, Stilinski,” Derek growled at him, before his featured rearranged themselves into a neutral blank look. He walked out, leaving Stiles staring at the place he had just been.

 

Lydia moved forward to touch Stiles, to maybe console him, but he stepped away.

 

“The person in charge was Ennis. Apparently, someone paid him off to get him to hijack that carrier. I don’t know what is on that pendrive, Laura, but you sure as hell better hope its worth it,” Stiles said calmly, before turning around to leave the room.

 

Laura watched him leave before letting out a sigh.

 

“Lydia, could you leave me alone for a bit? Maybe take Stiles out for coffee or something.”

 

Lydia raised an eyebrow at her before nodding. “Don’t forget that you have a meeting after lunch tomorrow.”

 

Laura nodded, staring at the pendrive in her hand, and Lydia took that as her cue to gracefully glide out of the room, her hips swaying and her strawberry blonde curls flipped over her shoulder.

 

 

* * *

 

“Do you want to talk about it?” said a voice behind him, and Stiles turned around to see Lydia standing behind him.

 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he replied, staring at the horizon again.

 

“Come on. You look like you need a drink. I think I still have that white wine Laura gave me for Christmas.”

 

Stiles sighed, and let Lydia gently drag him to her loft. It was just a 15 minute drive from the HQ, but Stiles didn’t even notice it. He hated how he always ended up hurting Derek. Usually, they managed to patch up pretty quickly, but this time...this time it seemed like Derek really hated him.

 

Suck up to my sister some more, Stilinski.

 

Stiled let out a small whimper. He could already feel the air in his lungs vanishing.

 

“Just a few more minutes, Stiles. Just a few more minutes,” whispered Lydia, speeding up.

 

‘Almost there, almost there,’ Stiles chants to himself, as he feels the growing snowball in his stomach.

 

“We’re almost there, Stiles. Just the elevator, can you handle that?” said Lydia.

 

Her voice was already sounding distant but he nodded, allowing her to manhandle him into the elevator to her apartment.

 

He doesn’t love you Stiles. You’re so foolish. Why would he love you at all? You’re a used piece of crap. Handed it out to everyone, didn’t you?

 

Stiles let out a sob, feeling the air around him compress. He couldn’t breath. He felt his body rise and fall in a desperate attempt to draw in air.

 

“Stiles! Stiles! Focus on me!” said Lydia, her normally calm voice now sounding panicked.

 

“Can’t,” Stiles gasped, feeling his body sink to the floor. He couldn’t understand where he was. His vision was blurry and his body didn’t feel like his own.

 

Of course it doesn’t feel like yours. How many men and women have you allowed to touch this body like you would? How many men and women did you fuck to get what Laura wanted? No wonder Derek looks at you with that disgust. You probably still smell of cum- not yours, never yours. Even if that last woman you allowed to touch you was that blonde whore, he can smell it. He can smell the men you fucked, the men you ultimately killed. He knows you’re a fucking slag, ready to give it up the moment Laura says so.

 

Stiles sobbed. He could see dark spots, and he tried hard to focus, but he couldn’t.

 

“Stiles, focus on me, listen to my breathing. Breath in, out!” said Lydia, trying to help him breath, trying to make him focus on her breathing.

 

“Shit,” he heard Lydia mutter, as she tried her best to help him but kept failing.

 

Suddenly he felt lips press on his own. They were a rather nice pair of lips- soft and yielding and nothing like the strong, demanding, slightly chapped lips he actually wanted. He could taste the strawberry lipgloss, and immediately his mind snapped onto the automatic connection it made between that and Lydia.

 

Lydia was kissing him. She pulled away when she realized he was okay again.

 

“What...what was that?” asked Stiles, his voice slightly hoarse.

 

“I read somewhere,” said Lydia carefully, because she knew he hated it when people kissed him, “that it helps when you hold your breath. When I kissed you, you held your breath.”

 

“Oh,” he mumbled, looking slightly confused.

 

“Sorry, I know how much you hate it. I just didn’t know what to do,” whispered Lydia, her hand rising but then it froze midair, like she wasn’t sure she was allowed.

 

Stiles sighed, talking her hand gently and pressing it to his cheek, allowing himself to take some comfort from her warmth. She was soft and supple where Derek was hard and angles, and she elicited a completely different reaction than Derek did, but he could feel the same comfort he got from Derek from her.

 

“Its okay. You were trying to help. Thank god it worked,” he said, quietly.

 

 

* * *

 

It was an absolutely normal morning for Derek Hale. He had decided that he was going to work late, because he deserved some time off after yesterday’s….everything. He absolutely hated it when Stiles did this shit.

 

A part of him knew that Stiles did this stuff because it was his job- not to annoy the hell out of Derek by disobeying orders, but to do Laura’s bidding. He wasn’t Derek’s subordinate, but Laura’s. It was so easy to forget that sometimes.

 

It was so easy to think that Stiles was his, not his sister’s, and the reason Stiles even worked with him was because Stiles wanted to work with him.

 

Derek sighed, forcing himself to move out of his bed. It was going to be a long-ass day, he could tell. He felt horrible about what he had said to Stiles the day before.

 

Maybe he should buy him a coffee, or something?

 

A sound from the living room immediately caught his attention. He could hear someone outside his bedroom, and he could smell the familiar scent of...Laura? He immediately moved towards the door. He could smell Laura, blood, pain, worry.

 

Something was very, very wrong.

 

“Laura?” he said, as he finally reached the living room. Laura was on her favorite armchair, her eyes drooping slightly. Her suit was torn at various places, blood oozing out of various wounds. There was a scratch on her forehead, a cut right under her left eye.

 

“Who did this?” said Derek, moving towards her. His wolf roared in anger, needed to be let out to avenge his sister, his pack.

 

“Winter. Soldier. Derek, that...that isn’t important right now. A.L.P.H.A’s been compromised. Someone has managed to take over without me knowing,” Laura said, breathing deeply, but it seemed to cost her a lot.

 

“Was that why Stiles couldn’t access that file?” Derek said, touching her and taking some of the pain away.

 

“Override. But yes. Trust no one, Derek. We don’t know who is on the other side, we don’t know who did this. I need to you to figure it out or True Alpha will….” Laura wheezed before her entire body collapsed.

 

“Laura? LAURA!” yelled Derek, shaking here. “Wake up, come on! Don’t do this to me!”

 

But Laura didn’t move.

 

She didn’t move when he carried her to the A.L.P.H.A ICU.

 

She didn’t move when he called Stiles, when he called Lydia.

 

She didn’t move when the doctors tried to restart her heart.

 

She didn’t move when Stiles pressed his hand cautiously on Derek’s shoulder, squeezing tightly.

 

She didn’t move when they moved her body to the morgue.

 

She didn’t move when they placed her body on the cold, metal table and covered her with a white cloth.

 

She didn’t move as Stiles fell to his knees and sobbed into the white cloth on her body, his tears drenching the cloth and rendering it almost transparent.

 

She didn’t move when Lydia stepped forward, kissed her forehead gently before pulling the now still Stiles away from her.

 

She didn’t move when Derek whispered, “I’m so sorry, Laura. I love you. Please don’t leave me, please.”

 

She didn’t move.

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Rape, Non/Con, Underage, References to PTSD

“Deucalion’s called you to his office,” said Aiden, frowning. “What the hell did you do?”

 

Derek shrugged. They hadn’t told anyone about Laura, and wouldn’t until the news spread by itself. Which it doubtlessly would, considering Deucalion was in charge.

 

Stiles hadn’t moved from his chair, but Derek could tell that the boy was paying attention. Stiles and Derek had still not talked about what had happened after the mission, and Stiles, who was usually the one to instigate these things, made no move to make that discussion happen.

 

Don’t trust anyone.

 

Derek ignored the sinking feeling in his stomach at those words, at the thought that he couldn’t trust the one person he trusted the most, and made his way to Deucalion’s office.

 

Deucalion was the chairman of A.L.P.H.A, and dealt with the administration and international relations side of the business. He was the one who dealt with the international aftereffects of their missions, and the like. A.L.P.H.A was an international body, and was independent of any citizenship or the like, making their existence something of a controversy.

 

“Ah, Derek! I was waiting for you!” said Deucalion, a bright smile on his face. At some point of his career, tragedy had struck and the man could no longer see. His blank eyes gazed in Derek’s direction, in a way that made Derek slightly uncomfortable.

 

“Yes, Sir?” replied Derek, taking a seat.

 

“Ah, Derek. I’ve told you a million times, its Duke. Laura and I are...were good friends, so you must address me with some informality.”

 

Derek nodded, before voicing it out, realizing that Deucalion couldn’t see him.

 

“I’m very sorry for your loss, Derek,” said Deucalion. “You know very well that Laura was a dear friend of mine, and no one will stop me from avenging her death.”

 

Derek nodded, feeling incredibly uneasy all of a sudden.

 

“The Council has been particularly annoying about the whole thing with the carrier,” said Deucalion, frowning to himself.

 

The Council was basically a group that consisted of leaders from all the continents who saw to the diplomacy side of A.L.P.H.A.

 

“You see, Derek, they think that Laura was the one who bought Ennis’ services. They say that there’s proof hinting to that,” he continued.

 

“If you knew Laura at all, you’d know that isn’t true,” snapped Derek, making Deucalion raise his arms placatingly.

 

“Why do you think we’re talking?” he replied, his face serious. “See, I took a seat on the Council not because I wanted to, but because Laura asked me, because we were both realists.”

 

Derek frowned. Something was very off here, and he did not like it.

 

“We knew that despite all the diplomacy and the handshakes, the rhetoric, to build a real better world sometimes it means having to tear the old one down. That makes enemies. Those people that call you dirty because you’ve got the guts to stick your hands in the mud and try to build something better make me really, really angry,” said Deucalion, his face contorted in rage.

 

“Derek. I want to work with you to get the killers. However, to do that, I need you to answer this simple question. You were the last one to see you sister alive. We both know that wasn’t coincidental. So,” said Deucalion, as Derek realized what was happening. “What did Laura say to you.”

 

Derek straightened his shoulders. He was no good at this political aspect of his work. He thought of Stiles, who was so much better at this, and immediately he knew what he had to do.

 

“She told me not to trust anyone. I’m sorry. That’s all she told me,” replied Derek, standing up and making his way to the door.

 

“Derek. I wasn’t kidding when I said I would make any suspect pay. I know you’re hiding something. Don’t do this,” he warned.

 

Derek turned back to look at the man staring right at him unseeingly.

 

“I’m not. Now, I’m going to go and mourn over my sister. I trust you will do all that you can to catch the killer.”

 

With that, Derek left the room.

 

As he made his way towards the lower floors on the elevator, Derek could feel the wolf getting more and more angry. It had been threatened. Deucalion had actually threatened Derek.

 

But why?

 

“Cap,” said Kali, as she entered the lift with Ethan and Aiden.

 

“Kali,” Derek replied easily.

 

As they steadily made their way down, more and more people entered the elevator. Derek had already noticed the tasers in their hands.

 

‘Amateurs,’ scoffed his inner Stiles.

 

Suddenly the lift stopped, between the third and fourth floor.

 

“Before we do this,” said Derek, “does anyone want to get out?”

 

In a huge flurry of limbs, Derek easily knocked down most of the operatives as well as Ethan and Aiden, who still hadn’t worked on those openings he had warned them about.

 

Kali, however, proved to be a worthy opponent.

 

“I really didn’t want to do this, Cap. Now, if you were that mouthy brat, I would have loved to kill you, but well, maybe I’ll get around to that anyway. I’m sure it wouldn’t take much. All that kid is good at is seducing people,” she said, when she managed to lock his arm above his head using a magnetic cuff. With his right arm stuck to the top of the elevator, Derek only had three limbs to beat Kali.

 

“Perhaps I’ll find out why he’s so good once I get you out of the way,” she crooned, and Derek saw red.

 

All he could think was, Stiles is mine. MINE. SHE CAN’T HAVE HIM.

 

The next thing he knew, Kali was at his feet, with her arm broken, his right arm was free, and he was alone in a lift of unconscious people.

 

“Derek, this is Stiles. I’ve knocked out the guy in charge of the elevator, and… I can see you’re just fine. Listen, do not go down, because there are more men waiting for you, just in case, on the third, second and first floor. You’ll have to jump out. I’ll have a car ready when you’re down. Meet me at the main entrance,” he said.

 

“Copy,” replied Derek.

 

There was only one person Derek would always trust, no matter who told him it wasn’t wise.

 

And that person was Stiles.

 

 

* * *

 

True to his word, Stiles was waiting outside in a car that looked way too fancy to be his, and way too boring to be Derek’s.

 

Derek ran towards him, trying to avoid getting shot by the thirty odd agents running after him.

 

“Damn, Deucalion is a piece of work, isn’t he,” said Stiles as Derek slided into the passenger seat. The moment Derek was in, Stiles turned the car and sped off, turning to look behind only once to shoot. In that one second, Stiles shot down fifteen of the thirty agents.

 

“You’re getting rusty,” said Derek, in an effort to avoid the rush of gratitude and something more as he watched the usually unflappable Stiles turn into the awkward and overprotective boy who had befriended him after his rescue.

 

“Shut up. You try driving at 100 mph and shoot people at the same time. People who are behind you!”  
  


There was a five minute silence as Stiles drove in an increasingly reckless manner.

 

“We’ve lost them. Come on,” Stiles said, finally parking in a dark alleyway that most people wouldn’t really notice.They both got out, and Derek finally asked him, “Who’s car is this anyway?”

 

“Kali’s,” he said, smirking easily.

 

There’s a brief, uneasy silence before Stiles speaks.

 

“Deucalion sent us a message to capture you. Or kill you, he wasn’t particular about which,” said Stiles, staring at Derek. Derek felt a sharp twinge in his chest at the thought that maybe Stiles wasn’t on his side.

 

“I wasn’t in the room, exactly, or Kali would have knocked me out before getting to you. Or tried, at least.”

 

“Why?” Derek asked. Stiles stared at Derek like he had suddenly started speaking in Latin, so Derek clarified.

 

“Why are you here? Why would Kali have had to knock you out?”

 

Stiles let out a huff that sounded both sad and exasperated.

 

“Everyone knows that I would never let anything happen to you. I would never help anyone hurt you. They would be dead the moment they thought it.”

 

There’s something about the way Stiles looks at Derek at that moment that makes his heart clench.

 

Derek nodded.

 

“So, anyway,” said Stiles, looking slightly sheepish before covering it up. “What do we do now?”

 

Derek hesitated for a moment, before he realized that not once had Stiles asked him what Laura had said. He only wanted to know what he had to do.

 

“She gave me the pendrive you got from the carrier. I think it could explain what’s going on. She said that A.L.P.H.A had been compromised,” Derek said finally.

 

Stiles nodded gravely. “Laura warned us about this happening.”

 

Derek raised his eyebrows.

 

“Seriously, Derek. Why do you think I was so cautious around Kali and the Twins? I never left you alone with them. I requested to be on your team to prevent you from getting caught up in another scheme against A.L.P.H.A.”

 

Derek looked slightly shocked at this revelation.

 

“You’re a dumbass. Look, we can’t go to my place because they will be looking for us, and my computer will be too easy to track, so we’ll have to go to the mall.”

 

Derek nodded easily and followed Stiles to the car.

 

“How long until the others are alerted?” he asked. Derek wasn’t the best with technology- that was what he had Stiles for- but he knew enough to know that there was no way that the rest of the people at A.L.P.H.A would not be alerted the moment they put that pen drive in a computer.

 

Stiles looked at him with a little bit of pride. Derek would feel insulted if he hadn’t accepted the fact that technology was just not his thing.

 

“I assume it would take two minutes for them to be alerted and probably five more to get to the mall. So...we’d have seven minutes, at least?”

 

“I’ve seen you work with less,” said Derek. He had seen Stiles in action. While he would never admit it, it was a thing of beauty, watching Stiles destroy algorithm after algorithm with the ease of someone who was merely solving fifth grade math.

 

Stiles simply smiled at him, but even then, it didn’t seem to reach his eyes.

 

The ride to the mall was slightly odd. Stiles was never quiet for long, but for some reason, he looked oddly….silent. Not in a way that he was hiding something, but in a way that told Derek that he was currently thinking in mission mode.

 

He looked determined.

 

Derek had never seen Stiles during a mission that was not with his team, for some odd reason, but he had heard that the Stiles during those missions and the Stiles he hung out with were two very different people. He had seen glimpses of course, of the other Stiles, but never in actual action.

 

People had even started calling the mission Stiles “Nogitsune”.

 

Nogitsune had been a name that Stiles had taken early on in his career, but it was only after Budapest that his name had slowly become more and more known.

 

Derek shook himself out of his reverie when he realized the jeep had stopped.

 

“Come on, first thing’s first. We’ll have to get you some semi-decent clothes. Preferably a hoodie. Something that’ll make you blend it, unlike your...leather jacket and all,” said Stiles, dragging him into a thrift shop just outside the mall.

 

Derek looked around. Stiles had already grabbed onto a bunch of stuff and had headed to the trial room, but Derek kept looking.

 

Finally, he found a grey sweater. It didn’t open up for his hands like most sweaters would, but instead, had holes for his fingers. He grabbed a wifebeater and a pair of dark jeans.

 

When he emerged out of the trial room, he found Stiles waiting for him in a pair of skinny jeans, a baggy, plain black tshirt and a plaid overshirt. He looked so ridiculously normal that Derek could see what Stiles would have been like if he hadn’t involved himself in this life.

 

“Not bad…” said Stiles, looking his up and down, pausing at his fingers, before nodding approvingly.

 

“Wait right here. I was thinking that glasses could help hide us. I know for a fact that no one ever recognizes me when I wear glasses and a beanie, so I know what I’m gonna do,” he said, rushing out.

 

Derek looked at himself in a mirror. He could barely recognize himself in this sweater. He looked like a librarian maybe, or perhaps a house husband. He looked like he couldn’t hurt a fly.

 

“Here,” he heard Stiles say behind him, and Derek turned. He was surprised to note that Stiles in a beanie and a pair of rectangular glasses. He had a thick framed pair of glasses in his hands, and gently slipped it on Derek, frowning slightly.

 

“You look like a librarian,” Stiles said, with an amused grin.

 

“I’m aware. Are you sure this’ll work?” Derek said.

 

“You should wear a hat,” said Stiles, frowning.

 

“The sweater has a hood,” said Derek, pulling it up to frame his head, and Stiles let out a small laugh.

 

“Shut up.”

 

“Sorry, sorry,” Stiles said, “I know. We have bigger issues to deal with. Come on. The sooner we get to the bottom of this, the better.”

 

Derek pulled up the hood so that it covered his face in a shadow and followed Stiles as they made their way into the mall.

 

 

* * *

 

The internet cafe in the mall was usually very crowded. Today was no different. Luckily for Derek and Stiles, they had managed to get to the cafe at a lull hour, so it took only five minutes or so for them to find a computer they could use.

 

“You stay on the lookout, I’ll work on this,” Stiles said.

 

Derek nodded, standing right behind Stiles, a little too close for a normal person’s comfort, but Stiles was used to Derek’s utter lack understanding of personal space.

 

Stiles inserted the pen drive.

 

“This is really odd, dude,” Stiles said after a minute. “This isn’t getting decoded. This drive is protected by some sort of algorithm. It keeps rewriting itself to counter my commands.”

 

“Six more minutes,” Derek said, softly. “What can you do, then?”

 

“I can try and find the source of the code. It should take me a minute or two.”

 

Derek nodded, keeping his eyes on the entrance.

 

“Hey, man!” said a blonde man, making his way over to them.

 

Derek got really stiff, and Stiles looked up to see the guy in charge of the place.

 

“Do you guys need any help? You seem a bit lost,” he said, grinning.

 

“Oh, no,” said Stiles, sweet and sugary. “We’re just trying to find a location for our honeymoon. This hunk of a man finally proposed!”

 

Derek looked even more confused, but the man paid no mind to him.

 

“That’s great, man! What are you thinking of? Malibu? Orlando?”

 

There was a beep from the computer. All three of them turned to the computer.

 

“Um,” said Stiles, glancing at the computer, “Beacon Hills, New Jersey!”

 

“Oh. Um, if you say so, man,” said the man, looking confused as to why the two would go to a little known area for their honeymoon. Stiles grinned brightly at the guy, grabbed the pen drive and Derek’s hand, and rushed out.

 

“One minute,” Derek said, gripping tightly to Stiles hand. “Stiles that was the place I was made.”

 

“I know,” Stiles said, his eyes wide in confusion. “This makes no sense.”

 

Derek twitched slightly to the right, his eyes glancing left and right. His whole body was stiff again.

 

“What’s wrong?” Stiles said.

 

“Kali’s here. Come on,” he said.

 

The two tried their best to walk around a bit to avoid the group.

 

“They’re splitting up.”

 

Stiles nodded, pointedly looking at an escalator.

 

They both got on, Derek facing Stiles, who stood on the higher step.

 

“She’s here,” whispered Derek. He looked slightly frantic, unsure what he was supposed to do.

 

“Der, you know what makes people uncomfortable?” Stiles said, using the childhood nickname to make him feel slightly more at ease. It had been ages since someone called him that, but just the name made him think of Laura.

 

“What?” said Derek, cautiously.

 

“Kiss me.”

 

“What!?”

 

“Dude, PDA makes people uncomfortable.”

 

“Yes, it does,” said Derek, trying his best to get out of this. He didn’t know what would happen if he kissed Stiles.

 

“Derek, wrap your arm around me and kiss me,” Stiles hissed, his eyes flashing with something that Derek didn’t really understand.

 

Derek growled. He grabbed Stiles waist, pulling the boy flush to his body. Stiles let out a small noise of surprise, and then their lips were together.

 

If he wants a kiss, thought Derek, I’ll fucking give him a kiss.

 

Derek put everything he had in that kiss, nipping at Stiles’ lower lip. This wasn’t a kiss of a couple in the mall. It was the kiss of two people who were afraid they’d never get to kiss again.

 

Derek slipped his hands down slightly, slotting them on the curve of Stiles’ ass. Stiles hands were more or less embedded in his hair, tugging slightly. Stiles was definitely going to have stubble burn and-

 

The end of the escalator finally came and the two pulled apart.

 

Stiles face was pink, his pupils blown, making his usually amber eyes look dark. His lips were bruised. If he hadn’t been wearing the beanie, Derek knew that his hair would have been incredibly messy.

 

Derek was no better. His hoodie was still on, but his hair was a mess. His eyes were dark, and it was evident that at some point his wolf had come to the fore because his eyes were now red- not the usual aggressive red that it was when they were in a fight, but a darker, softer red that did weird things to Stiles’ heart.

 

Then Derek blinked and the red was gone, replaced with his usual green eyes.

 

“Let’s get out of here,” he said, his voice deep, husky and utterly wrecked.

 

Stiles nodded and allowed Derek to drag him out of the mall as fast as he could.

  


 

* * *

 

“Okay, I have to know the answer to this. Where the fuck did Captain America,” Stiles said, ignoring the glare he received from Derek for using his given title, “learn how to hotwire a car?”

 

“We’re borrowing it,” said Derek, like it made a huge difference.

 

“Dude, we both know that whoever owns this car will never get it back, knowing our luck.”

 

“Shut up, Stiles,” said Derek, glaring at him again.

 

“Eyes on the road,” Stiles said, and again Derek saw a flash of Nogitsune underneath the Stiles he knew. Just a quick flash, as if to remind him what Stiles was capable of.

 

Derek focused on the road. The drive from New York to Beacon Hills wasn’t a very long one.

 

Derek very clearly remembered the last time he had been there. It had been...8 years now. 8 years since Stiles rescued him from Beacon Hills, with cavalry in the form of two Argents working against their own kin.

 

His time in Beacon Hills had been a bit of blur. He remembered Kate, of course, and the ghost of her hands on his skin before and after the transformation made him shudder. He remembered a vague, hazy picture of an old man- Gerard Argent- who gleefully worked on making him the perfect soldier.

 

He only remembers the pain of the “training”- the taser digging into his skin, his pained screams, his sobs when no one was around.

 

He didn’t realize that he had spaced out, lost in the memories of a painful past, until Stiles cleared his throat cautiously.

 

“We’re almost there,” said Stiles, his eyes on the road.

 

Derek nodded silently, unable to say a word.

 

“Are...are you okay?” Stiles said, and Derek’s head automatically turned to look at him. This was his Stiles, not the Nogitsune. It was always so confusing to tell the difference between them, but the hesitance in his voice made it obvious that Stiles was concerned.

 

It had taken a while for Derek to see it, but he couldn’t ever say that the difference between Stiles and Nogitsune was the affection for Derek. Stiles was more careful with Derek, was more affectionate and kind. Nogitsune’s every action had some connection to Derek- to protect him, to help him- but there was none of the softer affection that Stiles had.

 

It was definitely odd to think of the two as different people, since Stiles’ affection for Derek influenced his time as Nogitsune as well, but Derek saw them as two different people. It was just like how Derek saw the wolf and himself as two very different entities. They had similarities, but they were very different.

 

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Derek said, his voice gruff.

 

“If you say so,” Stiles said, his voice oddly sad and understanding.

 

 

* * *

Derek sobbed, his voice rough and hoarse.

 

_“Please, someone help me!” he said, his blunt nails scratching the metallic surface of the room._

_He had no idea how many days he had been here- brought here by a woman he had foolishly thought loved him._

_Kate Argent had been gorgeous, older and dangerous. A teen like Derek only dreamed of such a woman being interested in scrawny old him, and that dream had become a reality._

_Derek should have known better._

_His foolishness had landed him here- Beacon Hills- in the hands of the H.U.N.T.E.R.S._

_He had stopped hoping for someone to rescue him after the 8th month of his captivity. No one would come to speak to him except Kate Argent, who would come in and run her hands over his scrawny body, digging her nails in._

_His 14 year old body reacted as any other teenagers would, and Kate’s screechy laughter would fill the room as she dug her nails in deeper. She made him bleed, made him sob, as she rode him._

_No one ever heard Derek scream. No one heard him sob, cry out for help._

_It was no different when Kate took what she wanted from him._

* * *

_Days molded into nights. Derek had no idea what day it was, how long he had been here, but he just knew that whatever these people had planned for him was finally ready._

_Kate grinned sweetly at him, her eyes alight with the insane gleam he used to think was love._

_“Oh, Derek, you’re going to be so beautiful. You’ll be mine, our perfect little soldier,” she cooed, walking towards him as he tried to shuffle backwards. Not for the first time, he wished he was strong enough to make her back off, to protect himself. Not for the first time, he wished he wasn’t so useless._

_“Please stop,” he whispered, and her grin widened._

_“Don’t pretend you don’t want this, Derek,” she said, unbuttoning her shirt. Derek had long forgotten how the attraction he had had for her felt, and now felt only pure terror whenever she entered the room. Derek had stopped crying when she did this a long time ago. Trying to struggle or move away would never help, because regardless of her gender, Kate knew exactly how to force him down. He felt like an object._

_She grinned as all the fight left his body and she pulled his pants off._

_“I can’t wait to see how you look when Daddy finishes working on you. You’re going to be a work of art, Derek. I told him I wanted to help break you in. I wonder if you’ll become bigger down here too,” she said, grinning maniacally as she pressed her palm against his limp dick._

_He just lay there as she stroked his dick to hardness, didn’t move as she sank down on him. His fists were clenched and he couldn’t hear anything for a moment. Then suddenly, all he could hear was the blood rushing through his years._

_Its happening again. Its happening._

_“You’re such a pretty little boy, Derek. I love how easily I broke you. You used to cry so pretty. I wonder how much it would take to make you cry again. Maybe I should go find a strap on, fuck your pretty little ass raw with it. I wouldn’t even use lube. You’d love that, wouldn’t you, sweetheart? You would have loved to get fucked like the whore you are.”_

_Derek didn’t say a word. He stared at a point beyond her shoulder, knowing full well that she just wanted what she came for and she’d take it regardless of what he wanted. By now, he had somehow managed to clench his fists tightly enough to make a mark and cut into the skin._

_He could feel the warm gush of her pussy around his penis, but couldn’t figure out what he liked in her in the first place. He felt her move above him, and each time she moved down, he felt the overwhelming urge to puke, to push her away, but he knew that would only make it worse._

_This wasn’t about sex. This was about power, about controlling him. It was about destroying him completely._

_Someone came into his room. It was an old man, and he watched them for a moment before saying, “Kate, dear, are you done with him yet?”_

_Kate giggled, digging her nails in his chest, and said, “Almost, Daddy. Give me another five minutes. Then I’ll bring him to you.”_

_“No need, I’m standing outside,” said the man, amiably, and left._

_“Don’t worry, Derek,” cooed Kate, an insane smile on her face as she rode him hard, “Daddy’s gonna make you beautiful. Strong. Everything you’re not now.”_

_Derek felt everything around him and inside him scream in agony. He wanted her to go away, leave him alone. He wanted her to stop this, to stop hurting him, to stop forcing him to do this._

_I HATE THIS. PLEASE STOP. STOP!_

_Inside, the old him sobbed, begging Kate to leave him alone. Begging her to not do this to him anymore._

_On the outside, he remained expressionless, staring at the door._

_As she climaxed around him, forcing him to ejaculate with her, he felt another part of him break apart and die in the flames she had caused_

_Not flames of desire- not anymore- but flames that destroyed everything they came in contact with. Flames that froze you, had no warmth._

_“Daddy’s going to make you beautiful, you filthy boy,” said Kate, grinning. She slapped him hard, before pulling him up by his hair._

_Derek had no strength left in his body. He wished, yet again, that he was more like Laura, more like Peter. But he was only Derek, and Derek wasn’t strong._

_He was useless and worthless. Just a filthy fucktoy._

_And so he gave up as Kate pushed him onto a table, didn’t scream or fight as her father- Gerard- poked needles into him, pushed chemical after chemical into his bloodstream._

_When darkness came, he welcomed it with open arms._

 

* * *

 

Derek and Stiles stood in front of a large metal gate. It was rusting, but was still able to keep out delinquents. After all, Beacon Hills used to be a military base, way before the H.U.N.T.E.R.S had used it.

 

“It looks...different,” said Stiles staring at the place he had rescued Derek from.

 

Derek nodded, his fist clenched.

 

“Come on,” Stiles said, starting to climb the gate.

 

Derek smirked slightly, regardless of the the dread deep in his stomach, and simply broke the lock. The gate opened with a loud whine, Stiles moving along with it, glaring at him

 

“Screw you,” Stiles said, jumping off the gate.

 

Derek felt the dread in his stomach clench, and he suppressed it. Something was wrong, but he had no idea what.

 

He stared at the set of buildings, all organized to look deceivingly innocent.

 

If there was one thing Beacon Hills would never be, it was innocent and safe.

 

“Do you smell anything? Anyone?” asked Stiles, pulling out the taser.

 

Derek used to think Stiles was incredibly foolish for thinking that a taser was enough during the missions he had with Derek, but that perception was quickly corrected. Stiles didn’t really need much else during their missions with the team, but he knew that Stiles was well-versed in the use of all weapons, and made good use of that knowledge on solo missions.

 

Derek smelt the air. All he could smell was an oldness- the kind he had learnt to connect with deserted towns. But under that oldness, he could smell his own terror, his tears, old semen. He was sure he could hear his screams loud and clear from where they stood.

 

For a moment that felt like a lifetime, he stood frozen, unable to either move in or move away. All he could hear was Kate’s voice whispering in his ear, telling him how prettily he took it, how weak and useless he was.

 

He didn’t even realize he was shaking till Stiles gently pressed his palm against his shoulder, hadn’t even noticed he had fallen to his knees. He wanted to look up at Stiles, but was sure that the agony and pain was evident on his face. He wanted to be strong in front of Stiles, not a weakling.

 

Not Stiles.

 

He couldn’t let Stiles see the way Kate had destroyed him, the way Kate had broken him. How could anyone love someone so broken?

 

But Stiles saw it all. He always had.

 

So when Derek let go and let the tears fall, staring at the place that had changed his life and destroyed him in a decisive blow, Stiles stood over him. Stiles stood guard, protecting Derek from the world and from himself.

 

 

* * *

 

By the time Derek had managed to get a hold of himself and convince himself to enter Beacon Hills, the sun had already set. Stiles had said nothing the entire time. He simply sat down next to him, staring at the desert town in front of them, lost in his own thoughts.

 

Derek was incredibly grateful for the warmth and weight of Stiles next to him, and it felt like the younger man was anchoring him to this reality. Derek was very good at not letting the world outside affect him, and while he would do anything for Stiles to not see him at his weakest, Stiles was also the only person he would allow to see him like this.

 

“Its a full moon tonight,” said Stiles quietly, not moving away from him even though Derek had calmed down. “Is the Wolf gonna be an issue now?”

 

“I’ve managed to get more controlled. It should be fine,” said Derek, breathing deeply in an effort to gather the final bit of courage to make that move into Beacon Hills.

 

Stiles nodded, humming to himself tunelessly. His eyes quickly darted to Derek, as if it check on him, to see if he was okay.

 

“I’m fine Stiles,” Derek said, finally moving.

 

Stiles copied his action and smiled sadly.

 

“I know. You always are,” he said softly, his eyes still on the town. There was a silent sadness radiating from him.

 

They moved towards the town that had destroyed Derek’s whole life.


	4. Chapter 4

Beacon Hills was a very old town, with history that the civilians knew nothing of. To them, the place was merely an abandoned Army Base. For most people even in A.L.P.H.A, it was just an army base that the H.U.N.T.E.R.S had used. What a lot of people did not know was that Beacon Hills was very important in the making of A.L.P.H.A as they know it.

 

Stiles, though, knew a lot about the history of A.L.P.H.A. With the rise of terrorism worldwide, a lot of it being funded by the ever-elusive H.U.N.T.E.R.S, the Free World decided that they needed something to counteract the effect the antagonistic organization had on the world.

 

It was with this thought process that A.L.P.H.A was first formed. Four individuals from very different government backgrounds were called to come and help for the first ever team of A.L.P.H.A- the original Alphas.

 

They had been the ones to tie A.L.P.H.A to the international community, build the entire empire (so to speak) from scratch, and they were the ones who made A.L.P.H.A what is was today.

 

Stiles had watched A.L.P.H.A grow from the time he was just 4 years old.

 

John Stilinski had been a great man. Still was. He had fought in the Afghanistan war as both a soldier and a member of the intelligence service. He had been a CBI agent, trained to be a Navy SEAL and had come home with medals on medals, but no reason to live. A single child, John’s parents had both passed away before he enlisted to the service where he trained hard to be who he was today.

 

He was waiting at the reception for the White House Security to call him in when he first met Claudia Smith.

 

It had been love at first sight for both of them. Claudia was a bodyguard for the President but she was also a valued member of the President’s personal Secret Service. She was a spy and a soldier in a war that took place behind closed doors.

 

It surprised no one in their immediate circle that they got married within a year of meeting each other, and Stiles was born a mere year after that.

 

A.L.P.H.A was formed the year Stiles turned 3, and both his parents began getting more and more involved in the organization. As they built it up with man power from the CIA, FBI and the Secret Service, and enlisted the help of the Navy SEALs and the like, Stiles watched his parents slowly start leaving him alone more and more often.

 

Stiles never hated his parents for leaving him alone. Most of the time, he spent his childhood tinkering around with things and roaming Beacon Hills. Beacon Hills had been the first ever A.L.P.H.A headquarters before the place was abandoned after three years of it being in use.

 

His childhood at Beacon Hills had mainly involved roaming around aimlessly until some of the younger Navy SEALs decided to teach him to fight- who the hell let them teach a 4-5 year old how to fight?- and slowly, Stiles developed a deep interest in martial arts.

 

The resident hacker in town was a man who went by the name of Ralph. Stiles had spent a lot of his free time watching Ralph in action. Ralph never taught him anything, but his interest in computers and hacking were rooted deeply in his time with the much older man.

 

Stiles’ life in Beacon Hills may not have been perfect in many ways, but it had been perfect in the sense that it made him who he was today, and he didn’t regret anything.

 

Everything changed when Stiles was 5. Stiles had been sitting on the porch of the cabin he called home with a book on his lap. Someone had given him some picture books to read, and Stiles was reading the entire Winnie the Pooh series.

 

Or rather, he was slowly reading the words, following the letters carefully with his little index finger.

 

Stiles had just been about to read about how Christopher Robin helped Pooh get unstuck and out of Rabbit’s door when he looked up and saw a dark haired boy with bright green eyes.

 

“Hi,” said the boy, frowning at him like he was trying to figure out why Stiles was there.

 

“Hello, I’m Stiles,” Stiles said politely, closing the book.

 

“I’m Derek. I’m 9. How old are you?”

 

“I’m 5!”

 

Derek’s smile was rather proud as he realized he was much older than Stiles.

 

“I’m older so if we’re gonna play you have to do what I say,” Derek said.

 

Stiles had never had anyone even remotely close to his age to play with, so he agreed wholeheartedly.

 

Derek and Stiles had been great friends for the three months that Derek had been on the Camp. Stiles had met his uncle Peter, but never his parents or the elusive sister Laura. He did meet Derek’s little sister, Cora, who was his age and insisted she joined them.

 

Derek hated letting Cora play with them, insisting that girls had no place in a boy’s game, but Stiles usually convinced him to let Cora play. Stiles knew that as the only children on the base, the loneliness constantly hovered over them, just out of reach, waiting to consume them.

 

So those three months of little Stiles’ life had been amazing.

 

Until Derek left the camp, taking everything Stiles had hoped for with him.

 

Stiles’ father told him that his parents had shifted to the New York base, which needed them to be set up, while the Stilinski’s took care of the base and its shutting down.

 

Stiles was quiet for a few weeks, going about doing his own thing as his parents sank deeper and deeper into their work.

 

Then, a few days after his birthday, there was an odd change in Stiles. He took more and more interest in the Navy SEALs who humoured his desire to learn everything, and he started pushing himself to get more involved in his parent’s work, in a capacity that most kids wouldn’t.

 

To the absolutely surprise of the people who overlooked him, Stiles made sudden and huge leaps in learning. The psychologist on the base said that his IQ was way higher than that of an average child of his age, a full 140.

 

This wasn’t what surprised anyone. Stiles had always been way smarter than any other child his age. However, what surprised them was his sudden desire to learn everything there was to learn.

 

His parents decided that homeschooling was the way to go, so that all his needs were catered to.

 

The Stilinskis decided that, when Stiles turned 9, the best course of action was to take Stiles to the Academy. The Academy was, for all intents and purposes, a training ground for all future agents of A.L.P.H.A. The UN had established it in the hope that proper training would enable A.L.P.H.A to be as effective as possible.

 

As a result, Stiles Stilinski was one of the youngest agents ever to enroll to the Academy. There was just one other agent his age- Lydia Martin.

 

Lydia Martin was a fierce 10 year old, quite clear on what she wanted from the people around her. She knew exactly how to get it too. Stiles had been entranced by her ability to get exactly what she wanted from the much older students- something that still hadn’t changed with age.

 

As the two youngest agents on the site, there were eyes on them at all times. Stiles was still an awkward lanky boy, though the moment he started to fight you could see years of training and experience just radiate from him.

 

Lydia, however, was already starting to look like the beauty she was obviously going to become, her strawberry blonde curls reaching her waist and her bright eyes sparkling at any man who would give her the time of day.

 

Lydia was amazing and Stiles never failed to tell her that. At first, Lydia thought that Stiles wanted her and attempted to make him do her bidding through the same. But Lydia soon realized that she may be one of Stiles’ first friend in his age group and all manipulation disappeared and was replaced with fondness and friendship.

 

In the span of the couple months, Lydia and Stiles became best friends. They were never seen too far behind the other, and they were constantly at the top of everything they did. The heads of the Academy were constantly surprised with the huge leaps of improvement the two demonstrated, with Stiles’ perfect shots and his hacking abilities and Lydia’s ease manipulating the people around her and her ability to analyze data.

 

The two were the perfect team, able to easily take down any simulation thrown at them. After a point, the Heads decided that it was time to take the duo out to the real world to see if they could be as effective.

 

Their first mission had been to retrieve a set of stolen documents.

 

It took the two no longer that a week to break into a high security building and come back with the requested documents.

 

After that, the two were requested more and more often, and the two consistently spent their time travelling around the world, retrieving whatever A.L.P.H.A needed them to retrieve.

 

A week before Stiles’ 12th birthday, however, tragedy hit.

 

Claudia Stilinski was with Talia and Richard Hale, planning a mission to retrieve something of incredible importance to the two Hales- their son and their second daughter.

 

Derek Hale, age 14, had been kidnapped by the H.U.N.T.E.R.S and they would stop at nothing to get him back. 11 year old Cora Hale had also disappeared in the ruckus, and no one was sure where she was.

 

When the three were trying to plan how to rescue the two, someone- a H.U.N.T.E.R.S agent, no doubt- rigged the building with multiple explosives.

 

The three never left the building.

 

 

* * *

 

“Stiles,” said Lydia calmly as she looked over at the now 14 year old boy.

 

Stiles looked up, slightly confused.

 

“The headmaster said I should tell you that your father is here to meet you,” she said, frowning.

 

Lydia had never met John Stilinski.

 

After Claudia’s death, John, or Sheriff as A.L.P.H.A knew him, suddenly went into “hiding”. However, no one knew of Stiles’ connection to the missing Chairman of A.L.P.H.A.

 

John had changed a lot after his beloved wife’s death. Some had expected him to seek revenge, to hunt down the people who killed his wife and avenge her death. Not many had even considered that the strong John Stilinski, who was responsible for so many raids on the H.U.N.T.E.R.S, would ever just...give up.

 

Stiles had seen how his father would just sit at the dining table in their apartment in New York, staring into glass after glass of whiskey like he was trying to find Claudia at the bottom of it. It had broken his heart, seeing his strong, amazing father reduced to nothing.

 

Stiles’ only solution, it seemed, was to work as hard as he could to make his father proud. He’d travel the world, kill the bad guys, do A.L.P.H.A.’s bidding- he’d do it all. He didn’t mind being brave if it made his father happy and proud.

 

Regardless of all this, John Stilinski never came to the Academy. Stiles understood. As the Chairman- albeit the missing one- John couldn’t be seen having any connection to A.L.P.H.A.

 

So naturally, his father’s presence on campus was enough to have alarm bells ringing in his head.

 

He didn’t rush to the headmaster’s office. That would alert everyone else on campus, and Stiles knew that he and Lydia had eyes on them constantly, waiting for them to slip up even the smallest amount, before they could pounce.

 

When Stiles slipped into the Head’s office, he didn’t see the headmaster, but a man whose crafty light blue eyes almost seemed silver. Next to him was his father, standing as tall as he had been the day before his mother died.

 

“Stiles Stilinski. Its a pleasure to meet you,” said the man, extending his hand to shake Stiles’. Stiles looked at it for a moment, and then glanced at his father who simply nodded. Stiles took that to mean that this was an ally, not a foe.

 

“Pleasure, sir.”

 

“Please, call me Chris.”

 

Lydia and Stiles were careful to keep detailed information on all of A.L.P.H.A’s agents, particularly the more dangerous ones. He was well aware of who this man was, as he had fathered the legend known as Allison Argent, who was slowly gaining herself a name as Hawkeye.

 

“Stiles. A.L.P.H.A needs someone to….take down a outpost and rescue one of our own. Would you be willing to do so?” Chris said, his eyes watching Stiles carefully, studying him.

 

“With inadequate information, I’m afraid I can’t agree to help anyone out,” said Stiles calmly. He could sense his father’s approval from where he was standing.

 

Stiles could see that Chris was slightly amused. “I see. They don’t call you the Nogitsune for nothing,” he said, smirking slight.

 

“No,” Stiles said easily, shoving his hands in his pockets with a smirk, “I’m known as Nogitsune because of what I am on the field. This is all Stiles Stilinski.” Stiles was fully aware of how dangerous he could be, regardless of his lanky physique and doe eyes. In fact, many said he was a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

 

John looked up from where he was examining the books on the shelves.

 

“You remember the Hales, son.”

 

Stiles stiffened, looking at his father in something akin to surprise and tension. Wasn’t his identity supposed to be a secret?

 

“I think you’ve forgotten to fill me in on a particular detail, sir,” Stiles said, not letting himself relax.

 

“Chris is the only one who knows. He’s the one who helped me get off the radar and he’s my eyes into A.L.P.H.A,” said John, watching Stiles for his reaction.

 

Stiles just nodded. If his father trusted this man with something as big as his real identity, he would give the man that trust as well.

 

“What about the Hales? Is this about Laura or Derek?”

 

“Both actually. Laura now has information that might help us find Derek. We know where he is, but we need to assemble a small team to rescue him. My daughter and I have already enlisted ourselves for the cause but we need someone who knows the place well, who can get in and out without causing a sound- you.”

 

Stiles nodded, his interest piqued.

 

“We need you to break into Beacon Hills.”

 


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Sexual Molestation, References to PTSD and Related Guilt

Stiles frowned to himself.

 

Beacon Hills had always been slightly eerie after A.L.P.H.A evacuated it, but it was obvious that there was something disturbing about Beacon Hills right now. He could sense it in the stillness in the air and the way Derek held himself, stiff and worried.

 

He could tell that Derek thought that something was wrong. After working with Derek for all these years, Stiles could read him better than most.

 

“The signal came from the mess hall,” Stiles said, frowning as he navigated their way there.

 

Derek silently followed him, doing a clear sweep of every building. All of the buildings they passed not only looked like no one had stepped into them for years, they were all also locked from the outside.

 

Stiles couldn’t help but remember blonde hair and a vicious, manipulative smile. He could hear the whispers of derogatory words that made him cringe in distaste and hate, and remembered why he was so uncomfortable with the idea of being kissed.

 

* * *

 

_“Aren’t you a pretty little thing?” said the blonde woman above him, smirk in place._

_Stiles forced out a whine as she moved her hand down his chest in something of a parody of seduction. He could feel bile rise up his throat in disgust._

_When Laura had told him about the rumours of Kate being alive and in Budapest, she had asked him to get rid of her. Stiles had agreed immediately. This was the woman who had destroyed Derek in the ugliest, most disgusting way possible. He wanted her off this planet, as far away as he could get her from Derek._

_Laura asking him to assassinate someone wasn’t something new. He had been doing this since his first mission with the Argents to rescue Derek. He had killed many men and women who had posed a threat to international security, as well as those who funded organizations that reported to the H.U.N.T.E.R.S._

_This was the first time he had been asked to seduce someone._

_At the age of 18 Stiles was still a virgin, and knew nothing of how to seduce someone. He had only ever kissed two people- Derek and Lydia. The kiss with Lydia had been an experiment to both of them, an attempt to see why everyone else liked it. The two liked it well enough but agreed that kissing each other felt weird._

_Stiles and Derek’s kiss was very different. The night before he left on his journey to hunt down Kate with Allison, Stiles and Derek hung out and had as much fun as they could. They played video games in Derek’s room, ignoring the dread that churned in both of their stomachs. Before he left, Stiles pressed a soft kiss on the corner of Derek’s lips, trying to memorize every detail of the older man._

_That was 2 years ago. It had taken them two years to hunt down Kate and figure out how to attack her. She was well hidden but she did, very evidently, have a thing for young boys. Allison and Stiles had monitored her movements long enough to know exactly what her weakness was._

_It was just their luck that Stiles was her exact type- innocent-looking, awkward and seemingly easy to break. Stiles knew how to be invisible, he knew how to pretend he was defenseless, shy and unsure of himself._

_He was, in many ways, slightly awkward, but that was more because he was still unsure how to fill up his body after his growth spurt. But Stiles still knew how to use his body to hurt, maim, and kill._

_So, regardless of Allison’s fear for his safety, Stiles decided to be bait. He knew he could, because this was not the first time he needed to make someone want him to do his job. He’s never had to seduce someone, but there have been times when he had to dress up to attract his kill._

_“You’re going to be so good for me, aren’t you, little boy?” cooed Kate, her blood red nails scratching into his skin._

_Stiles let out a soft gasp, trying hard not to grasp onto the bed beneath him. Kate had already taken his clothes off and sat just below his dick, fully clothed._

_Stiles did not like this at all, the feeling of someone touching him in a way he hated, the crawling feeling under his skin, the feeling of something in him trying desperately to get out and claw her off him._

_To keep himself distracted he thought of Derek. He thought of Derek’s small, quiet smile, his bright clear eyes. He thought of the weight of Derek next to him, a solid barrier between him and what was happening to him in the present.._

_As much as Stiles wanted to kill Kate right away, he knew that all that work he had put into this couldn’t be left to chance. He had trained himself to the point that the current Stiles filled in the gaps that had been empty earlier, was confident and cocky, was lean, muscular and capable of anything._

_It was exactly what Kate wanted, and Stiles made himself that person to lure her in._

_Kate grinned at him as she ran her finger along the length of his dick._

_“For such a little boy, you carry quite the package. I’m going to love breaking you in,” she said, running her fingers over his lips._

_Stiles lifted his hips in invitation, not breaking character._

_“Such an eager little slut. That’s what you are isn’t it, boy?” she said, grinning darkly to herself. “Say it.”_

_Stiles’ eyes widened. He didn’t like this, the way she was creeping into his skin, under it and spreading her darkness in it._

_“I...I’m...I’m an eager little slut,” whispered Stiles, letting tears flow down his cheeks. He let himself surround his mind and his heart with Derek, chanting it in his head, in an effort to keep her as far away from hurting him as possible._

_Stiles closed his eyes and thought of Derek- beautiful, lovely Derek who would be safe if he got rid of this vile woman who had hurt him so badly._

_If it meant that Kate could never hurt Derek again, Stiles didn’t mind getting hurt. He didn’t mind hurting for a bit, feeling the slimy disgust running underneath his skin._

_By the end of the night, Kate’s body would be lying on this very bed, no blood to be seen, but no pulse to be felt. The window would be open, a light breeze coming in as the police stared at her body- her naked body- lying there, no actual cause of death to be seen._

_And Stiles would be half way back to New York with Allison, waiting to rush back into Lydia’s arms so she could piece him back together again._

 

* * *

 

“Stiles? You okay? We’re at the mess hall. Is something wrong?” said Derek touching his shoulder lightly in concern.

 

Stiles gave Derek a small smile, trying his best to not look as broken as he felt. He held onto his armour, the armour that everyone called the Nogitsune. Nogitsune was his “alter-ego” according to some, but Stiles knew better. Nogitsune was as much Stiles as Stiles was the Nogitsune. Nogitsune was the combination of all the anger, all the hurt, all the pain that Stiles felt, all caused by the H.U.N.T.E.R.S.

 

Sometimes Stiles felt so vulnerable that he could only grasp onto his armour for dear life, because at those times, it was the only thing keeping him together.

 

“Yeah,” he heard himself say, “I’m fine. Something just feels off.”

 

Derek nodded, frowning to himself, letting it go immediately. Stiles couldn’t help but feel a rush of warmth for Derek’s instinctive understanding of what Stiles needed at all times.

 

“Yeah, its almost too quiet.”

 

Stiles nodded, moving forward to open the door to the mess hall. He remembered when he used to come into this place and wait for the cafeteria lady to sneak him a snack or two. Now, the same lively place that he used to associate friendly A.L.P.H.A agents and staff was empty. There was nothing in the room but dusty shelves and tables, cobwebs hanging from the ceiling.

 

“Stiles,” Derek said, frowning at one of the shelves on their right as they entered.

 

“Yeah?”

 

“This mess hall was just a mess hall right?”

 

“More or less, why?” Stiles said, looking at the shelf as well.

 

Derek moved to it and pushed it aside, using his super strength to make it possible.

 

“Then why does it have a secret elevator to some underground passageway?”

 

“That was not there when I used to live here,” said Stiles, his eyes wide.

 

They both entered the lift, and winced when it started to move with a loud groan.

 

“We’re not even going to have the slightest chance of an element of surprise.”

 

“Let’s just hope pure force will work this time,” said Stiles, left hand on his taser but his right hand pulling out a knife.

 

The elevator shrieked to a halt, making both men wince.

  


As the doors squeaked open and for a moment, all Stiles could see was darkness. They slowly stepped out and, as if a switch had been turned on, all the lights flickered on one by one.

 

“And….that wasn’t creepy at all,” said Stiles.

 

“Welcome, Captain America and Nogitsune, to my humble abode. It is very kind of you to show up,” said a voice. Derek froze.

 

“Gerard Argent? You’re supposed to be dead,” said Derek, as Stiles looked around to find the source of the voice.

 

The huge screen in front of them lit up, revealing the face of an old man.

 

“When you have my brilliance, boy, not even death can defeat you,” replied the man on the screen. He seemed to be a normal old man, someone you wouldn’t even look at twice, but Stiles felt a radiating creepiness from the man, which made him feel all the more dangerous.

 

“Why did the signal come from here?” said Stiles, his hand holding on to the pendrive.

 

Gerard laughed. “You, you poor things have no clue, do you? When my foolish son took his daughter and left to join A.L.P.H.A, I made a promise to my wife that I would take my revenge on them. And now, I am about to have it!”

 

Derek growled. “What do you mean?”

 

“Well, you’ll be dead in an hour or so anyway, when my...undercover agents come to take you out. Over the past few years, the H.U.N.T.E.R.S have systematically infiltrated A.L.P.H.A. It was so easy too. Deucalion was possibly the easiest to convince and to plant. And now, we’ll be able to take over one of A.L.P.H.A’s most ambitious projects to date!”

 

“TRUE ALPHA,” said Stiles, realization and horror dawning on his face.

 

“It was relatively easy to make it happen, given that half your little organization is filled with my spies. And now we’ll be able to win this war, and take A.L.P.H.A down in one blow.”

 

The look of confusion on Derek’s face increased, as Stiles’ face hardened but continued to look disgusted.

 

“Of course, in order to win, I had to take out the two main threats to my plan- you two. Nogitsune would have easily broken down any defenses I put up while Captain America- my, Derek, isn’t that pretentious?- would destroy the ground forces with ease. All I had to do, though, was threaten Derek here, and of course Nogitsune would come running to his rescue. You’ve done that a lot, haven’t you?” Gerard said, smirking at Stiles, whose fist was clenched in rage.

 

“Derek, we need to leave,” said Stiles, and Gerard laughed.

 

“What makes you think I’m going to let you out of here alive?” he said, and the last thing Stiles felt was a muscular arm grabbing his torso and hitting the ground, while the world lit up in flames.


	6. Chapter 6

When Stiles came to, he had absolutely no idea where he was. He felt panic rise inside him until he saw the familiar sight of Derek, shirtless as usual, messing about the tiny kitchen opposite the bed he was in.

 

“Derek? Where are we?”

 

Derek didn’t look at him to reply. “A cabin in the woods.”

 

Stiles frowned. Derek was clearly upset about something, but before he could address why he was so angry, they had to deal with the information they were given by Gerard.

 

TRUE ALPHA was compromised. When the project had been revealed, Stiles had been the only one to oppose it, while everyone else seemed to insist that it was a good idea. Needless to say, Stiles was overruled.

 

“Stiles,” said Derek, snapping Stiles out of his thoughts.

 

Stiles looked at Derek’s face, and immediately, his stomach clenched. He hated it when Derek looked at him like this. Stiles knew that look- it was the look Derek had when people betrayed his trust. 

 

Stiles wanted to be the one person Derek could always count on, could always trust. Somehow, Stiles kept letting himself, and Derek, down.

 

“What’s TRUE ALPHA?” Derek said, seriously. Stiles gaped at him. Derek, of all people, should have the clearance to know that information.

 

“I...I thought Laura or Deucalion would have already told you, given the fact that you have clearance,” said Stiles.

 

“The first time I ever heard of it was from Gerard’s mouth.”

 

Stiles stared at his hands and was surprised when Derek handed him a cup of soup. He gratefully took it, trying to figure out how to explain TRUE ALPHA.

 

“TRUE ALPHA was an idea that Deucalion and some of his international equivalents came up with. Its a world wide process that involves the creation of machinery that can hunt down possible future threats based on a complex algorithm. Upon finding those threats, the same machinery will annihilate them. Instantly.”

 

“That doesn’t sound like a good idea in any way,” said Derek, frowning as he sat down on the bed with Stiles.

 

“It isn’t. At least, I didn’t think so. That kind of power can’t be handled by a single group of people. We both know that in A.L.P.H.A’s case, it would be more like it being handled by just one person. We shouldn’t enable that kind of thing at all. The point of A.L.P.H.A is to curb chaos by ensuring international rights, not to curb chaos by destroying any semblance of those rights.”

 

Derek nodded, frowning to himself.

 

"I tried to tell everyone, but unfortunately, no one agreed with me. They seem to be rather willing to forget that war means only people with power have rights. The people who have no money and no power are the ones who will be annihilated on without clear evidence or reasonings of their wrongdoings. Algorithms can help predict a lot of things but what it can never predict is human behaviour, because there is so much about it that is subjective rather than objective."

 

"Their willingness to overlook that is exactly what Gerard is going to take advantage of," said Derek quietly, his body stiff and angry.

 

Stiles nodded, looking worried.

 

"We have to stop him, of course. But...there's only one man I can think of who can help us beat them," Stiles said, looking incredibly worried.

 

"Let me guess. Scott?" Derek said drily. It was common knowledge that Scott was Stiles' best friend other than Lydia and Derek.

 

Stiles let out a soft laugh. 

 

"Scott isn't going to be much of a help in this case. We need someone who knows A.L.P.H.A better than we do, someone who was around when it was first created."

 

Derek frowned. "Who?"

 

Stiles looked at his hands, fiddling with the ends of the bed sheet.

 

"My dad."

 

"What? I thought your dad was...."

 

"Dead? That's what he wanted everyone to believe. It was necessary for everyone to think that he was gone for good because A.L.P.H.A couldn't and can't handle losing its actual Chairman."

 

Derek stared at Stiles in surprise.

 

"Your father is the Sheriff? The man who led the battle against Victoria Argent, got Chris to run away from his father and save his daughter from a life with the H.U.N.T.E.R.S? That Sheriff?" Derek said, staring at Stiles in something akin to awe.

 

Stiles nodded, starting to look a bit more awkward.

 

"The Sheriff who was best friends with my parents and was the reason the Academy opened and is currently running?"

 

"Dude, do you have some sort of hero worship thing going on for my dad?" said Stiles, grinning.

 

Derek growled at him, but it had no effect because Stiles could see the light shade of pink that dusted his cheeks.

 

“You really do? That is actually hilarious.”

 

“Shut up. I grew up listening to my parents talking about him and your mom,” said Derek, gruffly. Derek was the only person other than Lydia and Laura who was allowed to talk about his mother. Derek knew what it felt like to have your life destroyed by the H.U.N.T.E.R.S more than anyone else. It could have been why he and Derek got along so well.

 

“We’ll have to go to Dad now. We really have no other option left,” said Stiles, but his words were cut off by a loud yawn.

 

“Go to sleep. You’re dead tired. I’ll wake you up for your shift,” said Derek.

 

“Promise?” Stiles said as he got into the covers beneath him. He knew Derek would stay up the whole night if it meant that Stiles would be well rested.

 

Derek gave him a small smile, a smile that seemed to tell Stiles that Derek trusted him even now. Stiles ignored the dull twinge in his heart and snuggled into bed, falling asleep to the sound of Derek cleaning up in the kitchen.

 

 

* * *

 

Derek stared at Stiles as the younger man slept, knowing he should probably feel creepy for it, but he just didn’t. They had both gone through a lot together. When Derek had first been rescued, he had refused to speak to anyone at all. It had been young, gawky Stiles who had broken down his defences, followed him around and crept into the cracks in his walls.

 

Derek clearly remembered the look on Stiles’ face when he had actually come to the cafeteria and sat next to him at his table. Before that point, Stiles had made the effort to go and get Derek his lunch and delivered it without fail. Derek knew that Lydia hated the fact that Stiles tried so hard to befriend Derek. 

 

He remembered the way Stiles had curled up next to him that night before he left for Budapest. He remembered the press of Stiles’ lips against his forehead when he left, when Stiles thought Derek was sleeping. 

 

Derek remembered sitting in his room for a week, doing nothing but hoping Stiles got back safe and sound. He remembered wrapping himself around Stiles’ favorite jacket until Lydia had to come in and gently pry Derek from his room and back into the real world.

 

Well, as gentle as Lydia could be.

 

Stiles had been the center of his world after his transformation. Derek had been well aware that Stiles was attracted to him but the boy had never even tried to flirt with him. Instead, Stiles seemed to feel that being friends with Derek was way more important than approaching him for something more. And Derek, who had not felt anything like this before, started to depend on Stiles for everything. 

 

Of course, Derek wasn’t dependent on Stiles physically. It was just that Derek was emotionally invested in Stiles, and his emotional well being often depended on Stiles’ presence. 

 

Lydia only came to realize this when she was the one who had to ensure Derek left his room every now and then. Before that point, Derek’s relationship with Lydia had been rocky at best. They tolerated each other because of Stiles and Laura. Lydia didn’t like the way Derek was stealing Stiles from her and Derek didn’t like how she was trying to steal his sister.

 

It was a silly bone of contention but both Stiles and Laura were important to them. Lydia had found a sort of family in Stiles and Laura, and Derek had rediscovered the meaning of safety and love in them as well.

 

It was only when Stiles was gone that the two of them realized exactly how similar they were, and how they could easily get along when they wanted to. 

 

Derek sighed, absent mindedly stroking Stiles’ hair, as he thought of the fierce woman. He hoped she was okay, given the state of things at A.L.P.H.A now and the loss of Laura. 

 

He quickly snapped out of his thoughts when Stiles rolled a little, his head landing on the older man’s lap. 

 

When Stiles came back from Budapest, he just wasn’t the same. He avoided Derek, he was seductive and manipulative. He wasn’t the Stiles that Derek had come to know and love, and it had broken his heart to see the younger man grow into his body and use it to benefit A.L.P.H.A. 

 

He knew that sometimes, Stiles thought that Derek was disgusted by his behaviour. Derek wasn’t disgusted, he was  possessive . He didn’t like the fact that Stiles let someone else touch him that way only Derek should. He didn’t like how men and women looked at Stiles after Budapest, how Stiles let  them look.

 

Lydia was always very amused by his reaction to Stiles’ multiple partners on and off the field. 

 

“In the end, Derek, it’s you he’ll come back to. Its you he’ll eat dinner with and go home with. If you want something more than your domestic sleeping-in-the-same-bed thing, you should make a move.”

 

Lydia had seemed like she was thinking about someone else- a certain scientist who Stiles fondly called Jackass. Jackson and Lydia had an on and off relationship that had gone on for years. When Derek asked him about it, Stiles had shrugged and said that Lydia and Jackson were absolutely crazy for each other but neither wanted to be a hinderance to the other’s work.

 

Derek understood that feeling. He never wanted to get in the way of Stiles’ dreams, no matter how much he wanted Stiles to feel the same way. He didn’t want to be the reason that Stiles gave up on something he wanted, didn’t want to be what Stiles settled for when he could have the world.

 

And so, Derek tried to suppress his ever-present feeling for the younger man, settling for the easy camaraderie they already had. He couldn’t risk destroying what they had, he couldn’t risk hurting  Stiles .

 

It got harder and harder as Stiles stopped taking solo missions and just stuck to his missions with Derek. It was more difficult to stop feeling what he felt when Stiles was always in his space, being his usual self.

 

It was so much harder now that he knew how the younger man’s lips and mouth tasted.

 

Even though he hated it when Stiles lied to him, hid things from him…he still couldn’t help the way his heart sped up near the younger man, the way he gravitated towards him without even meaning to.

 

Derek let out a soft sigh, letting himself stare at the younger man and just let himself hope.

 

Hope was all he really had.

 

 

* * *

 

The next morning, Stiles woke up annoyed. Derek hadn’t bothered waking him up for his shift and had stayed up through the night.

 

“Sorry, I just had some stuff on my mind,” said Derek quietly.

 

Stiles couldn’t be angry with Derek when he looked like that. It was so hard for him to look at Derek when he made that face. When Derek had been rescued, he had constantly had that closed off expression that said he had given up.

 

One of the first times that Derek had opened up to him, he had said, “I’m never falling in love again.”

 

At that time, 14 year old Stiles hadn’t understood what he had meant, and tried his best to make the older man happy. When he slowly fell in love with Derek, he had felt a seed of dismay in his heart.

 

After Budapest, Stiles had finally understood what Derek had meant. It wasn’t that he wasn’t that he couldn’t love again. It was that Derek was terrified that he would make another mistake, that he would be shattered beyond repair. Derek had tried to smile it away, tried to pretend he was fine for so long. But even now, Derek seemed terrified of anything that required him to give up a part of himself.

 

Derek didn’t think he could give that part of himself and have something in return.

 

He genuinely believed that no one could ever love him.

 

Stiles’ heart shattered every time he realized that, and it made him wish he had taken his own sweet time killing Kate. He wished he had made her suffer and regret ever touching Derek.

 

“Let’s go. Knowing my Dad, he’s probably waiting for us right now.”

 

Derek nodded, his slightly dark mood catching onto Stiles, who was not looking forward to meeting his father at a time like this. The two had agreed that if the time should come when Stiles needed to protect A.L.P.H.A from itself, Stiles would come straight to him. Stiles had promised his father, and he wasn’t going to back out of it now, even if he didn’t want to endanger him.

 

They made their way through the forest in silence, like phantoms, not disturbing the wildlife in any way that would make it easy to track them.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warning: References to Childhood Sexual Abuse

The house they stopped in front of didn’t look particularly different from any other house in a suburb just outside New York. It was in a relatively well off area, though it didn’t really scream “rich”. Then again, Derek supposed that a man who was in hiding wouldn’t really want to stand out in the first place.

 

Stiles looked awkward for a moment.

 

This is the first time I’m going to be meeting Stiles’ Dad.

 

When that realization hit him, Derek suddenly felt nervous. He really wanted to get off on a good note with Stiles’ dad, especially considering that his dad was the Sheriff. Derek had grown up idolizing the man and now he had gone and fallen in love with his son.

 

Derek always did have the worst luck.

 

Stiles seemed to lose all apprehension when he knocked on his Dad’s door and a very familiar man opened the door.

 

“John?” Derek said, in disbelief.

 

“Hello, Derek. I was wondering when the two of you would show up.”

 

“Dad,” Stiles said, whining a little, like he was a teenager again.

 

John grinned and ushered them in.

 

The house didn’t look like it was owned by the chairman of an international anti-terrorism organization. It looked like the home of a small town sheriff who had done slightly well for himself. Derek couldn’t see a single picture of Stiles anywhere, and he assumed that was because of the fact that Stiles was not supposed to have any connection to the Sheriff.

 

Other than that, Derek didn’t feel like the house was as limited and mundane as it seemed to be. John had been surprisingly normal when Derek had met him on that jog. He was slightly annoyed that Stiles hadn’t told him that John was his dad when he saw them talking, but he understood the need for secrecy.

 

“There are two people waiting for you,” said John, smirking ever so slightly.

 

Derek looked slightly apprehensive and Stiles looked worried all of the sudden.

 

“Please don’t tell me you…”

 

“Genim Stilinski!” said a female voice that Derek instantly recognized.

 

“Lydia?” he said, looking surprised. He was too surprised at this turn of events to even tell Lydia not to call him by his given name.

 

“HOW DARE YOU NOT TELL ME YOUR FATHER IS THE SHERIFF?” Lydia said, ignoring Derek completely. Her volume didn’t increase but her voice said very clearly that Stiles was in for a lot of pain. Stiles flinched backing up a little.

 

“I don’t think now is the time, Lydia,” said a new voice and both men turned to the stairs. Neither could believe their eyes, as the person in front of them was someone they never expected to see ever again.

 

Derek took two steps forward, his eyes glassy with tears.

 

“Laura?” he said, his voice shaking ever so slightly.

 

“Baby bro. I’m sorry I had to trick you,” she said softly, her eyes filling up.

 

Stiles looked away from the tender moment between the two siblings and looked at his Dad.

 

“You better not have been cheating on your diet.”

 

 

* * *

 

John had decided that Derek and Laura needed some alone time, so he took Stiles and Lydia to the kitchen. Lydia had never heard of Stiles’ father in the entire time she had known the boy, not even in passing. She was curious to know what their relationship was actually like.

 

“Status report, Nogitsune.” The tone in John’s voice told them that he was acting as Stiles’ boss rather than his father..

 

“Infiltration of the H.U.N.T.E.R.S into A.L.P.H.A is almost complete. TRUE ALPHA is in jeopardy. Gerard called the shots, but as of yet we’re uncertain to what extent. Deucalion is running most of the infiltration at this point.”

 

“Code red?” asked John, frowning.

 

“In all honesty, Code Crimson.”

 

John nodded and Lydia immediately sensed a sudden change in the air between the two men.

 

It was incredibly odd to watch. Lydia had watched Derek and Laura with each other as well, and the two acted the same around each other regardless of the situation. But Stiles and his father were incredibly awkward with each other. Perhaps it was because John had been relatively absent from Stiles’ life, though he evidently had kept tabs on him.

 

“How are you, Stiles?” said John, a look of regret passing over his face. Stiles seemed to not comment on it, but if his briefly sad expression was anything to go by, he noticed it.

 

“I’d be happier if I wasn’t running around so much,” he said with a snort, and this made both Lydia and John laugh. They all know that Stiles was happiest either when he was with Derek or when he was in the field.

 

Lydia could sense the sadness and slight tension between the two men, though they didn’t allow it to affect their interactions. It was incredibly awkward to witness, and Lydia never thought she would be more grateful when Derek and Laura came into the kitchen.

 

But then she noticed Laura’s “we’re in trouble” face. It was the same face she had seen when Laura told her exactly where Stiles had been sent and why. It was how Lydia knew to pick Stiles up right after the mission and be his support and his rock when he couldn’t possibly depend on Derek.

 

Stiles seemed to see the same thing, but where he knew the face from, Lydia didn’t know.

 

“I think we need to talk about who wanted to kill you,” said John, leaning against the counter with a small frown.

 

Laura sighed, taking a seat on one of the chairs in the dining table next to the kitchen.

 

“I’m still not sure who it was. All I could see was a masked man in a silver armour. His eyes looked really familiar but I didn’t have the time to think about why.”

 

Stiles felt a chill of dread at the familiar description, but said nothing as Laura continued speaking.

 

“I did some research on the man once I was here and healing. Apparently he’s known as The Winter Soldier. He’s an assassin for hire, who usually works for the H.U.N.T.E.R.S.”

 

A worried lull spread through the room. Stiles sighed and everyone turned to him.

 

“I’ve met him.”

 

John’s eyes widened in realization but he said nothing.

 

“When...when you sent me to Budapest, I constantly felt the presence of another man. The one time I spotted him was outside the window when….I was fulfilling my mission,” he said, evading what he had been doing from the one person in the room who didn’t know.

 

“I think you need to tell Derek why you were in Budapest, Stiles,” said John, quietly. Lydia’s eyes widened in horror.

 

This was one thing no one spoke about- how Derek would react to Stiles’ actions in Budapest and his reasons for going there in the first place. It was placed in the tiny metaphorical box where Derek’s memories of Kate, the aftereffects of Kate and the entire issue of Stiles’ two year absence was kept. It was a no-go zone everyone carefully avoided.

 

“Given the nature of the topic at hand and the person we’re talking about, the one who tried to kill Laura, I think you need to,” John said, his eyes sad and understanding as he looked at his son.

 

“What are you guys talking about?” said Derek frowning at the sad, horrified faces around him.

 

“You remember when Laura gave me that mission with Allison in Budapest?” said Stiles quietly sitting next to Laura, refusing to look at Derek.

 

Derek nodded. As if he could ever forget. The Stiles that had returned from Budapest had not been the Stiles who had left for Budapest. It had been months before Stiles could look and speak to Derek normally. Derek had worried and panicked and tried so hard to make things better for Stiles in those horrible months, had dealt with Lydia’s quiet, sad looks and Laura’s unhappy sighs.

 

Derek didn’t like remembering the broken look on Stiles’ face, the look of horror on his face whenever he looked at a mirror or whenever he got lost in his own mind. Derek knew how that felt, because that was how he had been when he was rescued by Stiles. He didn’t like the idea of someone hurting Stiles the way Kate had hurt him, he didn’t like the idea of someone touching Stiles in the way Kate had touched him.

 

“The reason I was sent to Budapest was because someone had managed to escape the massacre at Beacon Hills when Chris, Allison and I came to rescue you,” said Stiles, finally looking up at him and Derek immediately knew who it was.

 

“Kate,” he whispered.

 

Stiles looked away, as if hearing Derek’s broken voice was killing him.

 

Derek’s horror faded to rage. Was there nothing in his life that Kate hadn’t destroyed?

“What did she do to you?” he growled and Stiles looked up, as if surprised that Derek would ask this.

 

“Did she touch you,” said Derek, growling as he wolfed out.

 

“Derek, I think you should calm down,” said Laura, her voice shaky.

 

“No!” roared Derek, and immediately Lydia grabbed John and Laura and dragged them out of the room as quickly as she could without making him want to chase them. While Laura rarely had to deal with Derek when he lost control, Lydia had been his pseudo-anchor for the entire time Stiles had been in Budapest.

 

Stiles stared at a point behind Derek’s neck, smelling like shame and despair and Derek never wanted him to smell that way again. It made him want to bring Kate back to life just so he could kill her again.

 

He moved forward, nuzzling the younger man’s neck.

 

“I’d kill her for touching you,” he growled, and Stiles’ scent changed from shame to confusion.

 

“You’re not angry with me? For not telling you about it?”

 

“Stiles,” said Derek, lifting him up and shoving him against the wall, “We’re both freaking spies. I’m pretty sure there’s a lot we’re not allowed to tell each other.”

 

All Derek could think about was that Kate had probably kissed Stiles, had probably made him fuck her, that possibility made him blind with rage and possessiveness. He growled, and pressed his open mouth on Stiles’ exposed neck, making the younger man arch into him, revealing more unmarked skin.

 

“Derek?” whimpered Stiles, confused as to why Derek was steadily sucking a dark bruise into the skin on his neck.

 

“Mine,” growled Derek, and Stiles immediately understood. His knees turned to jelly at the thought that Derek may actually like him the way Stiles loved him. Derek might actually want more.

 

Luckily for him, Derek lifted his legs up to wrap them around his body, so that Derek was now completely pressed against Stiles. Stiles let out a soft sigh as Derek’s warmth rushed over him, and let his fingers brush through Derek’s hair so he could hold the older man’s head into his neck.

 

Derek evidently appreciated it, given the satisfied growl and the way his hips thrust against Stiles’.

 

Derek lifted his head when he was satisfied with the purple-blue mark he had sucked into Stiles’ skin, a small smug smile on his face. Stiles could tell it was still the wolf in control, and he felt his heart sink as Derek pressed his lips to Stiles’ lips, ravaging his mouth. It went from what he wanted to something he felt like he had lost.

 

This wasn’t Derek. The wolf didn’t like Stiles being marked by Kate. It wasn’t Stiles, it was Kate.

 

Derek’s kisses weren’t what he wanted, what craved. All Stiles ever wanted was Derek’s heart, from the first time Derek first smiled his small smile, from the first time Derek looked at Stiles without that broken look.

 

But maybe Derek didn’t want that, and so Stiles pulled away. The older man whined, trying to move back into Stiles space.

 

“Derek,” said Stiles, gently placing his hand on Derek’s cheek. “This isn’t what you want. Come back.”

 

Derek shook his head, as if he was trying to get water out of his hair. The look he gave Stiles when he was finally human again shattered Stiles’ already broken heart. It was so horrified, so shocked, so apologetic, that Stiles had to move away from Derek and move to the door.

 

“He’s human again,” he called out, grateful that his voice didn’t quiver.

 

No one commented on the giant hickey on Stiles’ neck but Lydia gave Stiles a sad, pained look that Stiles refused to return.

 

“When I was in Budapest,” said Stiles as if there had been no interruption, “Allison and I were attacked by a man meeting your description. He almost killed us, and would have, if Allison and I hadn’t retreated immediately.”

 

Stiles refused to look at the pained look on Derek’s face, the wince that was so evident when he mentioned Budapest.  If he looked at Derek, Stiles knew he would break down. He knew that the self-loathing and hatred he had bottled up, his all encompassing love for Derek- it would destroy him in front of Derek.

 

“I know who he is,” said John, as if he was trying to save Stiles from the pain.

 

Laura turned to John.

 

“I’m sure you both remember Peter Hale.”

 

Lydia couldn’t suppress her gasp of horror and a sick feeling settled in Stiles’ stomach. Lydia and Stiles had never spoken about what Peter Hale had done to the 10 year old Lydia until Stiles came back from Budapest. It had been an absolute no-go zone until Lydia had to help Stiles get over his disgust with himself.

 

“Uncle Peter?” Derek said, and immediately Laura growled.

 

“That man doesn’t have the right to that name ever again. Not after what he did to Lydia.”

 

Derek hadn’t been with them when it had all happened.

 

Lydia and Stiles had been friends for a couple months at the time and had just met Peter Hale. Peter recognised Stiles and was intrigued by Lydia. They had both assumed it had been the intelligence in Lydia that intrigued him, but they couldn't have been more wrong.

 

It's was because of Peter Hale that Laura and Lydia first met.

 

The first time they had ever seen each other, Peter Hale had Lydia tied to the bed.

 

The first time Laura had seen Lydia in her life, it had been the moment her Uncle raped her.

 

Neither woman spoke about it, and Stiles had stayed out of it, only doing his bit as a best friend. At the time, he hadn’t understood what had happened, why his best friend hadn’t wanted Stiles to hug her or touch her.

 

All he had really understood was that Peter had hurt Lydia, and that was enough for him to hate the man.

 

It wasn’t until Kate that Stiles really knew what had happened to Lydia. It wasn’t until his return from Budapest-broken and bruised on both the outside and the inside- that Lydia opened up about it.

 

Stiles wasn’t sure, but he felt like it may have been the first time that Lydia let herself think about it, talk about it and cry. He didn’t ask, because he knew the feeling. He understood the feeling of dirty paws on his body, he understood the need to repeatedly wash yourself clean in an effort to get fingerprints and that dirty feeling off your skin.

 

Laura had finished telling Derek about what happened, and Derek shook angrily in his seat.

 

“I’ll kill him. I couldn’t kill Kate, I can’t kill her for what she did to Stiles, but I will kill Peter for what he did to you,” said Derek, red filling his pupils.

 

Lydia looked at Derek, a soft look on her face. Stiles sometimes forgot that Lydia and Derek were also very close. Her friendship with Laura and his own friendship with Derek often made it feel like Derek and Lydia were not as close as they were.

 

When Stiles left for Budapest, Lydia had been there for Derek, and Stiles would never be able to thank her enough for that. Stiles had been Derek’s everything, and they had both known that the moment Stiles left, Derek would collapse into himself.

 

Lydia had been there to hold the older man up, and Stiles could see the love and affection between them that had been a result of those two years depending on each other.

 

“That may just be what’s necessary now,” said John, leaning against the wall. “Peter was always an assassin for hire. He just switched sides. And now, if he’s working against us, the only way to stop him is to put him down.”

 

Laura sighed, giving Stiles a grateful smile when he squeezed her hand in concern. Stiles couldn’t begin to imagine the pain of having your own relative fight against you. He had seen the pain Chris and Allison went though. He knew that they had worked very hard to earn the trust of the people of A.L.P.H.A. He could see the second-hand guilt form on their face every time they saw Derek.

 

But Laura and Derek had already lost everyone, and the one person who remained was the man who tried to kill Laura.

 

Stiles squeezed his eyes shut as the image of the young, auburn haired girl slipped into his mind, her laughter ringing in his ears like a phantom voice.

 

_“Derek! Derek, don’t be mean!” she whined._

_“Go away, Cora. Little kids can’t play.”_

_Cora’s lower lip trembled, big fat tears forming in her eyes._

_“Derek, come on,” said Stiles, “We needed a Princess anyway.”_

_Derek glared at Stiles like he had betrayed him, but Cora squealed in joy, hugging Stiles tightly._

_“You’re my favorite!”_

 

Stiles opened his eyes and looked straight at his father who looked at him in pained understanding.

 

They had all lost so much to this war.

 

Hopefully, this would be the end.

 


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warning: References to previously mentioned Childhood Sexual Abuse and aftermath of said abuse

“So what are we going to do now?” said Lydia, with faux calmness.

 

“We kill him,” said Derek easily, making Stiles roll his eyes.

 

“Yes, Derek. We’re going to go to his house, knock on the damn door, say ‘Hello Peter’, and then kill him  dead .”

 

Derek gave him a slightly hurt look, and Stiles sighed.

 

“Look, I’m stressed okay? Sorry Derek,” he said, but refused to acknowledge the pain in his heart. He had almost gotten Derek for himself, but the shadow of Kate would always keep them apart. Why would such a perfect man want him?

 

Derek nodded, frowning at the stress and heartbreak radiating off him, and looked away. 

 

“Well, its a good thing I have tons of tech for us to use,” said John.

 

“Dad. You told me that you wouldn’t do anything! What did you do?” said Stiles, exasperated.

 

“I was bored. Plus, you’ll love this,” said John, with an easy grin.

 

He pulled off a book from one of the shelves and the shelf moved by itself.

 

“Seriously Dad? How is that not obvious?” said Stiles.

 

“Hide things in plain sight,” said John with a laugh, as the other three gaped at the lab that was literally behind the book case.

 

“I’m not even sure why I’m surprised. You’re related to Stiles. I have a feeling this runs in the family,” said Lydia, shaking her head in awe.

 

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” said John with a grin, as they all followed him into the lab.

 

“Dad! Is that the goddamn collection from the heist in Baghdad? How the hell did you get it without alerting us?” Stiles said, staring at the giant metal wings.

 

“You forget, I always have ways to get things without alerting A.L.P.H.A, after all, I did found it..”

 

Stiles shook his head in amusement.

 

“What the hell is that?” asked Derek, standing behind Stiles.

 

“That,” said Lydia, reaching out to touch the metal reverently, “Is the result of Project Angelwings. Not exactly the best name, but the squadron using these were the reason we won the war in Iraq.”

 

“I thought we lost all of the Wings,” said Laura, staring at it in surprise.

 

“I managed to steal the last set. Or rather, my friend gave it to me saying that I would use it for a better purpose than he did.”

 

Stiles let out a soft gasp.

 

“Dad...is this the stuff Parrish…”

 

Dad smiled sadly and nodded.

 

“He’s off somewhere trying to lead a normal life,” he said, with a small fond laugh.

 

“John,” said Laura, “What is all this?”

 

She was standing next to a wall filled with red strings connecting multiple pictures.

 

“That is what I call my Stiles wall,” John said.

 

“Gee, thanks Dad. Basically, when I was younger, I had a system of connecting red strings to denote possible connections between various events. I just wasn’t able to do the connection making mentally yet. I assume you made this due to the magnitude of events?” Stiles said, gazing at the wall.

 

“Am I the only one who thinks the Stilinskis speak their own language?” mumbled Derek from near the wings.

 

Laura and Lydia, who were busy eying the machinery, snorted while Stiles rolled his eyes.

 

“Hush, Der. This brilliant mind is the reason you’re still alive, regardless of the fact that universe has it out for us,” Stiles replied, drily earning a huff from the older man.

 

“And here I thought it was my muscles.”

 

“So what’s the plan?” asked Lydia, leaning against a bare wall.

 

“Well. We need to capture True Alpha before Peter and the rest of the H.U.N.T.E.R.S actually set about their plan for world domination,” said John. “Which is why I had a very good friend of mine make these.”

 

John lifted three computer chips.

 

“I need you two,” he said, pointing at Derek and Stiles, “to get on the main Motherboard ship and insert this into the supercomputer. Stiles will know what to do.”

 

Stiles and Derek nodded.

 

“I’ll be coming in as backup. I’ll distract them while you guys get to True Alpha,” John said, giving Stiles a sharp look when he made an unhappy noise.

 

“Laura and Lydia, you’ll be in charge of taking out Deucalion.”

 

“Got it,” said Laura, and Lydia smirked.

 

“Does this mean I get to actually fight for once?” she said, and everyone laughed, regardless of the dread pooling in their stomachs.

 

 

* * *

 

Time went by fast after that, a whirlwind of ideas, plans, hacking and arguing.

 

It took them two days to finally have their plan in a solid state.

 

Stiles and Derek stood in one of the guest rooms, getting ready. Stiles seemed to just be fiddling with everything, a nervous habit that Derek noticed immediately.

 

“Stiles,” he said, moving forward to touch his shoulder. “We’ll all be fine.”

 

Stiles turned and gave him a shaky smile.

 

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep,” he said, but reached up to hug the older man tightly. Derek couldn’t help the sigh of contentment as he wrapped his arms around Stiles, pulling him as close as he physically could.

 

“Come on guys!” yelled Laura from downstairs and Derek started to pull away from Stiles, but before he could say anything, Stiles pulled him closed and pressed his lips against his own.

 

Suddenly everything melted away until all that was left was Stiles and the feeling of his lips.

 

It felt like time sped up and slowed down at the same time, and Derek felt oddly cold when Stiles stepped away.

 

“Just…” whispered Stiles. “Please, please come back to me. Okay?”

 

Derek’s hand shook as he reached out for Stiles’ cheek.

 

“Always.”

 

Something flickered on Stiles’ face. Regret, joy, worry, anguish. It all flashed over his features in a second, before Stiles slammed down a mask of indifference.

 

“I’m serious,” said Derek softly. “I will do everything in my power to get back to you.”

 

With those words, Derek gently kissed Stiles again, and then exited the room.

 

Stiles squeezed his eyes shut, just praying for a moment that those would not be Derek’s “famous last words”. He prayed to whatever being was up there to at least keep Derek safe, because whoever was up there hadn’t heard his prayers before.

 

Please. Don’t let it be him. I need him in one piece.

 

Pushing away the terror and the pain in his chest, Stiles allowed himself to sink into the mind space of the Nogitsune.

 

It wouldn’t help if Stiles was compromised. He was of no use to Derek if he wasn’t in his best mental state.

 

Even if every part of his being quivered and wailed at the prospect of losing Derek, just like he had lost his mother.

 

 

* * *

 

Lydia glanced at Laura as they both got ready. Lydia was looking forward to the fight, in an oddly morbid way. She had suffered enough by the hands of Peter Hale and she wanted to ruin his plans in one way or another.

 

However, she knew that, at some level, that wasn’t right. Laura was going to go up against her Uncle and try to get rid of the H.U.N.T.E.R.S, who had been the cause of almost all of her misery. Laura had lost so much to them, and Lydia felt horrible for feeling like her own pain transcended that of Laura.

 

Regardless of the fact that Laura could be about to get her revenge, she was calm and serious as she checked and rechecked everything, speaking to John and then having a long talk with Stiles in private.

 

“What’s wrong?” said Derek, quietly as they stood in the hall waiting for the three.

 

“Am I a bad person for wanting this to happen? For revenge?” she said, and Derek sighed.

 

“I would feel the same in your position. When I heard about Stiles going after that woman and realized that she might have...no,  would have, touched him the same way she touched me, I was filled with this thirst for revenge. I would have torn her apart if she was still alive,” said Derek quietly. “I want it all to end. I want to go there and end this blood bath. They’ve hurt me and my family and loved ones so much, if makes me so frustrated and angry. I want to avenge the losses they’ve caused, but more importantly, I want to prevent any other losses they would cause.”

 

Lydia started when she felt Derek’s hand slip into hers, squeezing lightly.

 

“Wanting to stop something bad, even for selfish reasons, doesn’t make you a bad person.”

 

That was when Laura and Stiles walked in, Stiles looking more than a little unhappy. John walked behind them, his hand subtly brushing against his son’s to offer some comfort. Derek seemed to move towards Stiles for a moment but stayed next to Lydia, her hand in his.

 

He and Stiles had time. He had to believe that. He had to believe that they had a future. A future where they would, hopefully, be together. He had to believe that they’d get out of this alive.

 

If he didn’t think positive, he knew he’d break down.

 

Looking and the stiff back of his sister, Lydia’s almost-unnoticeable quivering, and the Stilinskis’ awkwardly trying to forget the ghost of the woman they loved most, Derek realized that he needed to be the one with a steady mind.


	9. Chapter 9

The day had come- the day that Derek Hale would leave five of the most important members of A.L.P.H.A, the five people whose lives had been so involved with A.L.P.H.A that its name haunted them every day of their lives.

 

The plan they had come up with was simple enough, but it was very heavily dependant on trust, the one thing Derek found very difficult to give.

 

“It’ll be fine, we can do this.” He heard Laura say through the earpiece, and he grimaced.

 

Derek nodded back, trying his hardest not to look for Stiles.

 

He could hear the announcement on the loudspeaker, warning all A.L.P.H.A members that he was in the building.

 

_Shoot on sight._

 

Derek snorted and burst into a run. All he had to do now was make his way to the helicarriers, Lydia would meet him there.

 

_Left, right, left, up the stairs, down the hallway._

 

He quietly played Stiles’s directions to the area that True Alpha was located in his head. The wolf was growling, and for the first time in a long time, Derek let it loose. He caught a glimpse of his morphed face and his red eyes in the reflection of a window and smirked, knowing that all rational A.LP.H.A members- the con artists and otherwise- would think twice before approaching him, even with a gun.

 

He burst out into the area, and was easily able to spot the main craft. He heard gunshots and ducked, continuing to sprint, knowing that the other...humans wouldn’t be able to catch up.

 

“Open the hatch!” screamed someone and the hatch right below the main craft began to open.

 

“Crap,” growled Derek, trying to run faster, but he knew he wouldn’t make it.

 

“Sheriff,” said Derek, touching his earpiece.

 

_“Yes, Captain.”_

 

“Assistance required. Now.”

 

“ _I’m waiting for your visual_ ,” said John immediately, and Derek jumped, disregarding his thoughts otherwise, as the craft immediately fell through the hatch. He fell through the air, the wind hitting his face hard and fast as gravity did its job.

 

Suddenly, two arms pulled him up.

 

“I got you, boy,” said John’s warm voice, and Derek let out a sigh of relief.

 

Two giant metallic wings were attached to John’s back, letting him fly with ease. John looked like a futuristic angel, and Derek couldn’t help but think about John’s son- who, in many ways, was his angel.

 

“Where to?”

 

“That helicarrier. That’s the main craft.”

 

“Got it,” said John, and flew towards the giant craft, dodging the bullets and missiles.

 

“Derek,” he said, the moment he got closer. “After this, I’m going to go, as planned. But please, please remember that Stiles needs you to get out of this, okay?”

 

Before Derek could even try to respond, John let him go.

 

Derek landed on the helicarrier safely and didn’t bother looking back, they only thing he could do at this point was move forward. Even if John got hurt now, he couldn’t do anything to save Stiles’ father.

 

‘ _Alright, Derek. This is it. All you need to do now is put those chips into position and I’ll do the rest_ ,’ said Laura through the earpiece and again, and he nodded as if she could actually see him.

 

He felt like saying something now would shatter the tense atmosphere around him.

 

“Hello Nephew,” drawled a voice from his left, and Derek turned.

 

There, 100 meters from him, stood a man at least 10-15 years older, with slightly graying brown hair slicked back and a perfectly trimmed beard. He was, like Derek, wearing all black, and the only part of him that stood out was a mechanical silver arm taking the place where his left arm should have been.

 

“Peter,” Derek said, coldly. This was the man who had hurt his sister, who had almost killed Stiles and Allison.

 

“Aw, come now, Derek? Is that how you greet your long-lost uncle?”

 

“You killed Laura,” Derek said, careful not to tell Peter that he had failed. “You tried to kill Stiles.”

 

“Oh, Derek. You always did think with your heart,” said Peter, affectionately. “It's getting worse, isn't it? The surges of anger. The loss of control.”

 

“What are you talking about?”

 

“You mean you haven’t noticed how you’re slowly losing control of the wolf?” Peter said, innocently.

 

Derek’s eyes widened as Peter’s lips curled into a dark smirk, his eyes turning red.

 

“You know, I used to get angry. Before I learned control, I would even break my own toys in little fits of rage. And then I asked myself- Why break your own toys when you can break someone else's?”

 

With that, Peter attacked, and Derek immediately dodged, jumping to the left.

 

“Stiles isn’t a toy!” Derek yelled back, scratching Peter’s arm with his claws.

 

Peter laughed, leaping back.

 

“You foolish boy, Stiles isn’t the toy, he’s the prize! With you out of the way, there’s nothing to control Nogitsune!”

 

“What are you talking about?” said Derek, confused.

 

Peter chuckled.

 

“I might as well tell you everything, since you’re going to die anyway. There’s a reason everyone calls Stiles the Nogitsune. Its not a nickname. It is literally his alter-ego. Stiles has only one thing anchoring him- and its not Laura or Lydia- that position has always been yours.”

 

Derek’s breath hitched, dodging another blow.

 

“Do you know what a nogitsune is, historically? It's a fox spirit that chose to become human. And supposedly, that's something they can do only after about 100 years. If a kitsune is an annoying pain in the ass, then a nogitsune, which is a dark kitsune, is a freaking disaster. That is what Stiles is- a dark kitsune.”

 

“There’s nothing wrong with Nogitsune!” said Derek, angrily, as he landed another blow.

 

“Oh, Derek. We both know that isn’t true. After all, there is a reason why the Game is played,” he said, and Derek suddenly remembered the chess pieces that Stiles used to keep covered on his bedside table.

 

“But that game isn’t the Nogitsune. The Nogitsune is the kind of spirit that's lived too long to play by human rules. It's not the game of a Japanese fox. Chess is Stiles’ game,” Derek retaliated, pushing his uncle away.

 

A small laugh came from behind Peter, startling them both, and Derek and Peter both stared at the source.

 

Lydia’s lips curled into a small satisfied smirk.

 

“Men,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Stiles isn’t the Nogitsune that you’re looking for.”

 

Derek’s eyes widened in realization, memories of Lydia cleaning a chessboard, her tendencies towards destruction. Had Laura always known that Lydia had been the true Nogitsune?

 

Peter laughed. “Who else could it be?”

 

Derek leaped off Peter and Lydia closed in, glee spreading over her face.

 

“Oh, Peter. You should be glad. After all, I am who I am today because of you,” she crooned, her eyes glinting. “Derek, be a dear and do what you’re supposed to do?”

 

His inner wolf immediately stood to attention, eager to do as the Alpha Female demanded.

 

Lydia chuckled. “You think power like this comes out on its own? You’re the spark that lit my fire, sweetheart. Oh, and I thought you should know, I prefer Banshee, not Nogitsune.”

 

With those last words, Lydia tore off his head and the helicarrier shook as Derek placed all the chips into their positions.

 

_We’re in control, guys. Stand down._

 

Derek turned to Lydia, who was staring down at Peter’s beheaded body. She looked like a lost child, and with blood dripping from her hands, she looked like she had all that time ago when Laura had rescued her.

 

Laura had explained to Derek in great detail what Lydia had looked like on that day, and suddenly Derek could see it in technicolour.

 

He could see the terror, the grief, the sorrow...he could see the loss of innocence, faith, hope and love.

 

He could see it all right there.

 

“Lydia…”

 

Her head snapped up, and Derek saw the moment her face switched from grief, horror and sadness to a blank expression that made him very worried.

 

“There’s something wrong with me, isn’t there?” she said, her voice shaking, despite her stone expression.

 

 

* * *

The days after the battle seemed anti-climactic, considering all the fighting that went on and the scale of destruction. No one knew Laura was still alive, so John and Laura decided to pick up on a lead that Stiles had given them.

 

Apparently, Deucalion had gone on a long stereotypical villain rant, talking about how they had hidden Cora for years in the hope of creating a truly perfect soldier.

 

While the two of them ventured to hunt down Cora, Stiles had taken over A.L.P.H.A on the request of every member of the United Nations. They actually attempted to have him sent to jail due to his involvement in the assassination of particular political figures, but Stiles had basically destroyed that approach in a typical Stiles way.

 

“You're not gonna put me in a prison. You're not gonna put any of us in a prison. You know why? Because you need us. Yes, the world is a vulnerable place, and yes, we helped make it that way. But we're also the ones best qualified to defend it. So if you want to arrest me, arrest me. You'll know where to find me.”

 

No one could deny that fact that, at the end of the day, they would all depend on A.L.P.H.A to save the day. So instead, they put him in the one position that allowed them to keep an eye on him- Chairman.

 

The first thing Stiles did when he became Chairman was call in a man called Jordan Parrish- a family friend of his who Derek had a feeling was much more than just a war veteran. He made Parrish the Director, which meant that Stiles was now in complete control of A.L.P.H.A.

 

Lydia had been sent to meet Jackson for a week, to calm herself down. Stiles had spent a whole day explaining to Derek how he and Laura had realized what was happening to Lydia and started spreading rumours about Stiles being completely dependent on Derek for control. They had known that this would excite the people who wanted to plan A.L.P.H.A’s downfall.

 

However, the one with frail control was never Stiles - though he was incredibly dependent on Derek. They had also seen the change in Lydia after Peter, had seen her lose control when she wasn’t with Stiles, Jackson or Laura. That was why Lydia had said that the Nogitsune that Peter had been looking to control was not at all Stiles, but instead Lydia herself.

 

When Lydia came back, she was back to normal, though she went for regular meetings with Parrish, which made Derek even more suspicious of who the man was. A voice in his head (that sounded oddly like Laura) told him teasingly that he was only suspicious because Parrish and Stiles were now always together, and Stiles never had time for Derek.

 

It was one month after the annihilation of True Alpha that Derek found himself opening his apartment door to find Stiles standing there in his black on black suit.

 

“Parrish told me that I needed to take a break, a week off. I thought that...um. That is to say, I wanted to…” Stiles stammered, and for the first time in a long time, Derek saw Stiles truly nervous and unsure.

 

Derek leaned down and pressed his lips against Stiles’, making the younger man sigh happily. It made his heart clench in joy and his wolf howl.

 

“Get in. We have lost time to make up for,” Derek said, smirking at Stiles and he locked the door.

 

Maybe tonight wouldn’t be the night either of them could tell the other how much they loved each other. They had been through too much pain, betrayal and heartbreak to just let themselves go like that, to just leave themselves vulnerable in someone else’s hands.

 

But regardless, this was a beginning that they looked forward to. It was the beginning of hope and love and brightness.

 

It was the beginning of a brave new world- one that they would construct together.

**Author's Note:**

> Usually people prefer to keep the warnings at the end and the thank you's at the beginning but for this particular fic, I thought it was more important to ensure that my readers stayed safe- something I'm sure everyone involved in the creation of this story will agree to.
> 
> Firstly, I would like to thank three very special individuals in my life- Eddie, Nams and Carmen. These three girls have been the driving force of my story. They have cheered me on, helped me when I struggled with the harder parts, and have been the strength I needed to see this story through. Carmen and I have been internet buddies for 5 years now, while my friendship with Nams and Eddie is more recent (this past year actually).
> 
> If they hadn't been there to help me out, I could have definitely broken down under the stress of writing this story accurately (because that was incredibly important to me) and being a final year college student trying to find another college for masters.
> 
> I would also like to thank the wonderful people boys and girls who helped me write the non-con scenes of this story. I didn't want to half-ass something like that so I did research- something they seemed to appreciate, and I hope you will too. 
> 
> Marple, the girl who will be doing my pdf, has also been with me since my DeanCasBigBang attempt and joined us in the Sterek Big Bang this year, proving to be an amazing help to all the writers she was working with.
> 
> Cheeky and Xandromedovna- my two artists- have been amazing people as well. We've all been busy- with work and college- but we've managed to make ends meet. That's something I think we all know about, being writers and readers- we all persevere because this thing- this entire phenomenon of writing stories and them being read- is something very important to us all.
> 
> Lastly, Cheeky- my co-mod on Sterek Big Bang- was actually the one who planted the idea of participating this year and I can't find it in myself to regret making that decision. It has been a huge roller-coaster but its been worth it.
> 
> Thank you all for being so helpful when I needed it most.
> 
> And thank you, readers, for taking the time to read this story- I honestly appreciate it and I hope you like it and comment on what you thought of it.
> 
> Here is the wonderful, beautiful art that was created for this fic!
> 
> Cheeky's Art: http://archiveofourown.org/works/3231464
> 
> Xandromedovna's Art: http://xandromedovna.livejournal.com/3711.html
> 
> 8tracks Mix (by me): http://8tracks.com/holding-out-for-a-hero/a-brave-new-world
> 
> Please do check out the other stories from the big bang because they're all great and I'm so proud of all these artists and authors for getting through the stress of it all to produce such amazing content!


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